thermal equilibrium

  • what is thermal equilibrium?
    • when two materials are initially at different temperatures come into contact (or are mixed), thermal energy will transfer from hotter material to the colder one (until both are the same temperature)
    • when both materials end up at the same average temperature, the mixture will have reached thermal equilibrium
    • final temperature is somewhere between the middle of the two original temperatures and depends on relative mass of each material and relative specific heat capacities.
    • assuming no loss/gain from surrounding environment, the total energy would remain the same.