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A single isolated body can start in a state which is not one of thermodynamic equilibrium, and can change till thermodynamic equilibrium is reached. Thermal equilibrium is a relation between two bodies or closed systems, in which transfers are allowed only of energy and take place through a partition permeable to heat, and in which the ...
Thermal equilibrium is achieved when two systems in thermal contact with each other cease to have a net exchange of energy. It follows that if two systems are in thermal equilibrium, then their temperatures are the same. [64] Thermal equilibrium occurs when a system's macroscopic thermal observables
The zeroth law of thermodynamics defines thermal equilibrium and forms a basis for the definition of temperature: if two systems are each in thermal equilibrium with a third system, then they are in thermal equilibrium with each other.
In these methods, a reacting system initially at equilibrium is perturbed rapidly and then observed as it relaxes back to equilibrium. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] In the case of temperature jump, the perturbation involves rapid heating which changes the value of the equilibrium constant , followed by relaxation to equilibrium at the new temperature.
An equilibrium state is mathematically ascertained by seeking the extrema of a thermodynamic potential function, whose nature depends on the constraints imposed on the system. For example, a chemical reaction at constant temperature and pressure will reach equilibrium at a minimum of its components' Gibbs free energy and a maximum of their entropy.
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.
In physics, thermalisation (or thermalization) is the process of physical bodies reaching thermal equilibrium through mutual interaction. In general, the natural tendency of a system is towards a state of equipartition of energy and uniform temperature that maximizes the system's entropy.
As a useful theoretical but not actually physically realizable limiting case, a process may be imagined to take place practically infinitely slowly or smoothly enough to allow it to be described by a continuous path of equilibrium thermodynamic states, when it is called a "quasi-static" process. This is a theoretical exercise in differential ...