Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Thermal equilibrium obeys the zeroth law of thermodynamics. A system is said to be in thermal equilibrium with itself if the temperature within the system is spatially uniform and temporally constant. Systems in thermodynamic equilibrium are always in thermal equilibrium, but the
In mathematics and physics, the heat equation is a certain partial differential equation. Solutions of the heat equation are sometimes known as caloric functions . The theory of the heat equation was first developed by Joseph Fourier in 1822 for the purpose of modeling how a quantity such as heat diffuses through a given region.
Thus, the two systems are in thermal equilibrium with each other, or they are in mutual equilibrium. Another consequence of equivalence is that thermal equilibrium is described as a transitive relation: [7]: 56 [10] If A is in thermal equilibrium with B and if B is in thermal equilibrium with C, then A is in thermal equilibrium with C.
Only one equation of state will not be sufficient to reconstitute the fundamental equation. All equations of state will be needed to fully characterize the thermodynamic system. Note that what is commonly called "the equation of state" is just the "mechanical" equation of state involving the Helmholtz potential and the volume:
Defining equation SI unit Dimension Temperature gradient: No standard symbol K⋅m −1: ΘL −1: Thermal conduction rate, thermal current, thermal/heat flux, thermal power transfer P = / W ML 2 T −3: Thermal intensity I = / W⋅m −2
These concepts of temperature and of thermal equilibrium are fundamental to thermodynamics and were clearly stated in the nineteenth century. The name 'zeroth law' was invented by Ralph H. Fowler in the 1930s, long after the first, second, and third laws were widely recognized.
Classical thermodynamics deals with states of dynamic equilibrium.The state of a system at thermodynamic equilibrium is the one for which some thermodynamic potential is minimized (in the absence of an applied voltage), [2] or for which the entropy (S) is maximized, for specified conditions.
This statement implies that thermal equilibrium is an equivalence relation on the set of thermodynamic systems under consideration. Systems are said to be in equilibrium if the small, random exchanges between them (e.g. Brownian motion) do not lead to a net change in energy. This law is tacitly assumed in every measurement of temperature.