THERMAL EQUILIBRIUM

• Two objects have the same temperature.

• There is no net flow of heat between the
objects.
THERMAL
EQUILIBRIUM
• Consider thermal interactions of systems in (a).
• red slab = thermal conductor (transmits interactions)
• blue slab = thermal insulator (blocks interactions)
•
• Let A and C reach thermal equilibrium (TA=TC).
• Let B and C reach thermal equilibrium (TB=TC).
• Then are A and B in thermal equilibrium (TA=TB)?
• In (a), are A and B in thermal equilibrium?
• Yes, but it’s not obvious!
• It must be proved by experiment!
• Experimentally, consider going from (a) to (b):
• Thermally couple A to B and thermally decouple C.
• Experiments reveal no macroscopic changes in A, B!
• This suggests the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics:
• If C is in thermal equilibrium with both A and B,
then A and B in thermal equilibrium with each other.
• This means: If two systems A and B are in thermal equilibrium,
they must have the same temperature (TA=TB), and vice versa
•
The Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics

“If two systems are separately in thermal

equilibrium with a third system, they are
in thermal equilibrium with each other.”
Equilibrium Temperature
• M1-mass of first liquid
• M2-mass of second liquid
• T1-initial temperature of first liquid
• T2-initial temperature of second liquid
 Example
8. Determine the final temperature in each of the following problems:

a. 32.2 g of water at 14.9 °C mixes with 32.2 grams of water at 46.8 °C.

b. 139 g of water at 4.9 °C mixes with 241 grams of water at 96.0 °C.