A state function<\/em> is one that is independent of path. Another way of explaining it: for a state function, if you end up where you started, nothing has changed.<\/p>\n An example of a state function is heat content of a cup of water. Let’s imagine it starts at 25\u00b0C. If you heat it from 25\u00b0C to 99\u00b0C, then let it cool back to 85\u00b0C, its ending heat content will be the same as if you just heat it from 25\u00b0C to 85\u00b0C. The heat content of an object of fixed mass depends only on its temperature, not how it arrived at that temperature.<\/p>\n Gravitational potential energy is also a state function. It depends on mass and height according to<\/p>\n Egp<\/sub>=mgh<\/p>\n Therefore, a given object’s gravitational potential energy depends on its current height, but not how it arrived there.<\/p>\n Position is a state function, but distance is not. A runner who travels exactly one lap of a track has not changed position, but has travelled 400m (typically). Running another lap, the runner’s position will be restored, but their distance will increase to 800m.<\/p>\n Source:<\/p>\n White, J. Edmund. Physical Chemistry: College Outline Series<\/u>. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987.<\/p>\n