3.3.

2 Diagram Regions
If we continued to repeat this process of heating a substance isobarically from a liquid to a vapor phase, adding more weights each time, and tracing the resulting isobar on a T-v diagram, the two-phase portion of the isobar would become smaller and smaller until it became a point, which is called the critical point. We could then trace out a dome by connecting the points on the isobars where the two-phase region begins and ends, as shown in the T-v diagram below. The dome is called the saturation dome (or vapor dome), and it divides the T-v diagram into different regions. Regions on T-v Diagram Since temperature and specific volume are independent properties, water can exist at any combination of temperature and specific volume. However, the phase (or phases) of the water can vary depending on the combination of T and v. The primary regions on the T-v diagram shown on the right are as follows: compressed liquid, saturated liquid, saturated liquidvapor mixture, saturated vapor and superheated vapor. We'll look at each of these regions in more detail in the following sections. However, first we will look at a P-v diagram and a P-v-T surface. Regions on P-v Diagram We could go through a similar set of experiments using a piston-cylinder device where the pressure of liquid water is decreased isothermally. Decreasing the pressure of liquid water would cause its specific volume to increase and eventually it would go through a phase change process and become a vapor. If we repeated this experiment at several temperatures and traced the results on a P-v diagram, we would have a series of isotherms, two of which are shown on the diagram on the right. Just as in the T-v diagram, the saturation curve/dome is defined as the curve enclosing the 2 phase region on the P-v diagram. Note that the isothermal phase change process is also isobaric, as noted by the horizontal isotherm on the P-v diagram inside the saturation dome. Once again, the horizontal isotherm on the P-v diagram indicates that temperature and pressure are not independent properties during a phase change. Also note that the regions on the P-v diagram are identical to those on T-v diagram. Regions on P-T Diagram Thus far we have focused on liquid and vapor phases, but pure substances can also exist in a solid phase. Substances can change directly from a solid to a vapor without passing through the liquid phase in a process called sublimation. Also, a pure substance can exist as a solid, liquid and vapor simultaneously under special conditions called the triple point. A P-T diagram is useful for describing the conditions under which solid-vapor, solid-liquid, and liquid-vapor transitions occur. See Section 3.3.2 in the textbook for more information on P-T diagrams.