Which of the following situations indicates a system reaching equilibrium? Which
ID: 918294 • Letter: W
Question
Which of the following situations indicates a system reaching equilibrium?
Which of the following situations indicates a system reaching equilibrium?
a. A cup of hot water cools until the temperature of the water is the same as its surroundings. b. A refrigerator maintains a temperature much colder than room temperature. c. The human body maintains a temperature that is significantly different from its surroundings. d. The temperature inside a house on a winter night is maintained much warmer than the outsideExplanation / Answer
ANSWER a. A cup of hot water cools until the temperature of the water is the same as its surroundings.
An equilibrium process should consist of two processes taking place in opposite directions .Some property should change in either direction until the so called equilibrium is reached when there will be no further change in thAT property.
When a cup of hot water cools, its temperature keeps on changing until its temperature becomes equal to that of the surroundings. Once the temperature of the water becomes equal to that of the surroundngs there wil be no further change in temperature.
Strictly speaking , when the temperature of the hot waTer decreases, ,the temperature of the surrounding actually increases.Since the surrounding is extremely large, the increase in the temperature of the surrounding will be infinitesimally small so that there is apparently no change in the temperature of the surrounding
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