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Particle number



Conjugate variables
of thermodynamics
PressureVolume
(Stress)(Strain)
TemperatureEntropy
Chem. potentialParticle no.

The particle number, N, is the number of so called 'elementary particles' (or elementary constituents) in a thermodynamical system. The particle number is a fundamental parameter in thermodynamics and it is conjugate to the chemical potential.

By calling a constituent element, we state that it cannot be broken into smaller pieces at the scale of energy k·T involved in the process (where k is the Boltzmann constant and T is the temperature). Our definition of elementary particle is thus temperature dependent.

 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Particle_number". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.
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