An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

A curve, on the pressure versus specific volume plane,
representing the locus of all the possible states that can be reached by a substance immediately after the passage of a single → shock wave. For each initial condition there is a different curve. No combustion occurs in the process and, therefore, the chemical composition of the medium does not change. See also → Rayleigh line; → Crussard curve.

See also: Named after the French physicist Pierre Henri Hugoniot (1851-1887), who worked on fluid mechanics, especially flow properties before and after shock waves; → curve.