Thermodynamics · 01 / 06

Temperature & Equilibrium

Temperature describes thermal state. When systems can exchange energy, a temperature difference drives net heat transfer until thermal equilibrium is reached.

The learner question

What disappears at thermal equilibrium, and what does not?

At equilibrium, the temperature difference disappears, so there is no net heat transfer between the systems. Microscopic particles do not stop moving. Equilibrium is a stable macroscopic balance, not microscopic stillness.

Ideal-gas microscopic bridge
Ktrans=32kBT\langle K_{trans}\rangle = \frac{3}{2}k_B T

For a monatomic ideal gas, absolute temperature is proportional to average translational kinetic energy per particle. Temperature is not the total energy of the whole sample.

Equilibrium lab

Bring two equal samples into thermal contact.

equal heat capacities
280.0 K
420.0 K
right → left
left
280.0 K
ΔT
140.0 K
right
420.0 K
Left initial T280 K
Contact progress0.00
Right initial T420 K
Temperature is intensive

Doubling the amount of the same material at the same thermal state does not double its temperature.

Equilibrium is relational

Two systems are in thermal equilibrium when contact between them produces no net heat transfer.

Microscopic motion remains

Equal temperatures mean matching thermal state, not identical particle-by-particle velocities and certainly not zero motion.

Zeroth law

If A is in thermal equilibrium with C, and B is in thermal equilibrium with C, then A and B are in thermal equilibrium with each other. This is what makes temperature a consistent measurable property.

Do not confuse

A bathtub and a cup of water can have the same temperature while storing very different amounts of internal energy because the amount and kind of matter differ.

Transfer check

Two objects have reached the same temperature. Which statement must be true?