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Thermal equilibrium occurs when two objects reach the same temperature and stop exchanging heat energy. Heat flows from hotter to cooler objects until equilibrium is reached. This concept is important in chemistry and nature, where balance is crucial for vital chemical reactions to occur.
Thermal equilibrium is achieved when two objects or systems reach the same temperature and cease to exchange energy through heat. When two objects are pushed together, the object with more heat energy will lose that energy to the object with less heat energy. Eventually, their temperatures will be equal and they will cease to exchange heat energy as no object is hotter or colder than the other. At this point they are in a state of thermal equilibrium.
Thermal contact is an important concept related to thermal equilibrium. Multiple systems are considered to be in thermal contact if they are able to affect each other’s temperatures. If a soda bottle is removed from the refrigerator and placed on the kitchen counter, which is at room temperature, the counter and soda bottle are in thermal contact. Heat energy from the meter flows to the cold soda bottle. Eventually, their temperatures will be equal and they will be in a state of thermal equilibrium.
In thermal systems involving objects in thermal contact, heat flows from the hotter object, which contains more heat energy, to the colder object, which contains less heat energy. Therefore, objects and systems can gain or lose heat. However, they technically cannot gain or lose cold, as there is no separate “cold energy.” In a thermal system, the hotter object loses heat energy to the cooler object until equilibrium is reached.
The concept of thermal equilibrium is most often used and studied in the field of chemistry, especially in the study of thermodynamics. Thermodynamics is usually taught at an introductory level in high school chemistry classes, but it is a very complex subject that is not fully explained to students until advanced college chemistry and physics classes.
Along with its place in the laboratory, thermal equilibrium has a very important place in nature. Chemical systems exist in many living and non-living things in nature and keeping these systems in a state of balance is very important. In the human body, for example, enzymes are involved in countless chemical reactions vital to life. Enzymes, however, become useless when they reach too high or too low a temperature. They must remain in constant balance to remain functional, and they must remain functional for the human body itself to function.
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