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Engineering ToolBox > Properties and State
Property is any characteristic or attribute which can be quantitatively evaluated. Pressure, temperature, velocity, energy, etc. are all properties.
Things that are done, like work or heat flow, are not properties.
The state of an object is its condition described by a list of properties. For example temperature and pressure may describe the state of a gas.
The list of properties necessary to describe the state of an object will vary with the object and the microscopic versus macroscopic view of the object.
Some common states and their often used properties:
| State | Common Properties to describe the state |
| Chemical | chemical composition, free charge, energy, entropy, etc. |
| Electromagnetic | electric field strength, magnetic dipole moment, charge, etc. |
| Esthetic | color, design, odor, etc |
| Geometric | length, width, breadth, volume, etc. |
| Hydrodynamic | pressure, shearing stress, strain rate, etc. |
| Kinematic | position, speed, acceleration, etc. |
| Thermodynamic | energy, temperature, volume, pressure, enthalpy, entropy, etc. |