Wait a minute, why would you need to number something as zero? Why not just rename the other ones? Well the first three laws of thermodynamics had been around for a while, and this law is more basic than the other three so they called it the Zeroth Law of thermodynamics.
Find out what the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics is.
What is it?
The Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics states that:
If object A is in contact with object B and they have both reached the same temperature (they are in thermal equilibrium), and object B is in thermal equilibrium with object C, then object A is in thermal equilibrium with object C
Further explanation
So you take a glass rod and place it against a golden box, and they both reach the same temperature. Now if you take that glass rod and touch it to a copper box, and no heat flows between them (they are the same temperature), you can say that the golden box and the copper box are the same temperature.
Duh.
Ok so if this seems exceedingly obvious, that’s ok. It’s one of those laws that seems obvious, but needs to be said to make all the other laws make sense. You can’t talk about heat transfer and energy if you don’t have a way of measuring the heat and temperature of one object relative to another.
What does it mean for objects to be of the same temperature? It means that heat will not flow between them when they are in contact. That is what the Zeroth Law is all about.
Further reading:
BBC - h2g2: Zeroth Law of thermodynamics
(image by thetruthabout via flickr)
[tags]physics, thermodynamics, culture[/tags]
Subscribe via RSS
{ 0 comments… add one now }