Thermodynamic Notation

Thermodynamic notation becomes complicated because there are so many things that need to be specified. It is not unusual to see a quantity like ${\mu_i^\alpha}_\circ$ which means ``the chemical potential of the i$^{th}$ chemical component in the $\alpha$ phase in its standard state.'' You will have to pay attention to sorting out notation--otherwise you will have difficulty understanding how everything fits together.

The notation for specifying chemical composition becomes necessarily messy, because it can vary from phase to phase. We will spend some time making sure that you understand what is meant by the ``concentration of chemical species $i$ in phase $\alpha$: $c_i^\alpha$.

Students often confuse composition with phase fractions. Let's make sure we understand the distinction.

Partial quantities are other variables that the treatment of an intensive variable like pressure as a linear combination of all the present chemical species--as in the case of partial pressures.