Volatility (chemistry) Volatility (chemistry) In chemistry and physics, volatility is quantified by the tendency of a substance to vaporize. Volatility is directly related to a substance's vapor pressure. At a given temperature, a substance with higher vapor pressure vaporizes more readily than a substance with a lower vapor pressure. The term is primarily written to be applied to liquids; however, it may be used to describe the process of sublimation which is associated with solid substances, such as dry ice (solid carbon dioxide) and osmium tetroxide (OsO), which can change directly from the solid state to a vapor, without becoming liquid. The
Degrees of freedom (physics and chemistry) Degrees of freedom (physics and chemistry) In physics, a degree of freedom is an independent physical parameter in the formal description of the state of a physical system. The set of all states of a system is known as the system's phase space, and degrees of freedom of the system, are the dimensions of the phase space. A degree of freedom of a physical system is an independent parameter that is necessary to characterize the state of a physical system. In general, a degree of freedom may be any useful property that is not dependent on other variables. The location