An isothermal process is a change of a system, in which the temperature remains constant: ΔT = 0. This typically occurs when a system is in contact with an outside thermal reservoir (heat bath), and the change occurs slowly enough to allow the system to continually adjust to the temperature of the reservoir through heat exchange. In contrast, an adiabatic process is where a system exchanges no heat with its surroundings (Q = 0). In other words, in an isothermal process, the value ΔT = 0 but Q ≠ 0, while in an adiabatic process, ΔT ≠ 0 but Q = 0.
Read more about Isothermal Process: Details For An Ideal Gas, Calculation of Work, Applications
Famous quotes containing the word process:
“That which endures is not one or another association of living forms, but the process of which the cosmos is the product, and of which these are among the transitory expressions.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (182595)