The working fluid's properties are essential for the full description of thermodynamic systems. Although working fluids have many physical properties which can be defined, the thermodynamic properties which are often required in engineering design and analysis are few. Pressure, temperature, enthalpy, entropy, specific volume, and internal energy are the most common.
If at least two thermodynamic properties are known, the state of the working fluid can be defined. This is usually done on a property diagram which is simply a plot of one property versus another.
When the working fluid passes through engineering components such as turbines and compressors, the point on a property diagram moves due to the possible changes of certain properties. In theory therefore it is possible to draw a line/curve which fully describes the thermodynamic properties of the fluid. In reality however this can only be done if the process is reversible. If not, the changes in property are represented as a dotted line on a property diagram. This issue does not really affect thermodynamic analysis since in most cases it is the end states of a process which are sought after.