8 PHYSICAL SYSTEMS OF THERMODYNAMICS, STATISTICAL-MECHANICS, AND COMPUTER-SIMULATIONS

The equilibrium properties of a pure substance can be described in at least eight distinct ways in thermodynamics and in statistical mechani cs. These eight different descriptions are interrelated to one another through a Laplace-Legendre transformation scheme. The only existing s cheme defines three systems which lack useful application. We present an alternative, more natural description which incorporates two novel thermodynamic functions and three relatively new statistical mechanics ensemble theories that have been put to practical use in computer sim ulations.