UNDERSTANDING THERMAL EQUILIBRIUM

Tempreature
-Temperature is a physical quantity which measures the DEGREE of HOTNESS of an object. A hot object has a higher temperature than a cold object. Tempreature is one of the base quantities in physics. - The SI unit of temperature is Kelvin(K), Degree Celcius (centigrade) and Fahrenheit . - When two objects are in thermal contact, heat is transferred from one object to the other. - The temperature of the objects determines the direction of energy transfer between them.The energy transferred between objects in thermal contact is known as heat. - The heat transfer will continue until a state of thermal equilibrium is achieved. - Heat is produced by mechanical energy or from the conversion of other types of energy such as electrical energy to heat energy and so on. - It must be noted that Temperature is NOT the same as Heat. -Temperature is a measure of degree of hotness of an object, is a base quantity, SI unit is kelvin and other units are degree celcius and fahrenheit. It determines the direction of heat flow. -Heat is a form of energy, is a derived quantity and SI unit is Joule, J. other unit is calorie, cal. It is being transferred from a region of higher temperature to another region of lower temperature.

Thermometer
Mercury thermometer Resistance thermometer Thermocouple thermometer

Calibration of thermometer
1. Thermometers must be calibrated before they can be used to measure temperatures. 2. The calibration of an instrument refers to the process of marking-up a scale on the instrument to be used as measurement. 3. To produce a scale on a thermometer, two fixed points must be determined first. Then the two points must be the temperatures which can easily and correctly reproduced in any part of the world. 4.On the Celsius scale, the two fixed points are the ice point (0C) and the steam/boiling point (100C). 5. The ice point (0C), or lower fixed point is the melting temperature of pure ice at standard atmospheric pressure (760 mm Hg). 6. The steam point (100C), or upper fixed point is the temperature of steam at standard atmospheric pressure (760 mm Hg).