3 ms·
I'm afraid you've been misled by an oversimplified definition. That is not fundamenatally what temperature is, though it works out that way for many common sys
by wnoise 16y ago
I'm afraid you've been misled by an oversimplified definition. That is not fundamenatally what temperature is, though it works out that way for many common systems. Temperature is a way to measure which way energy will flow between two objects at equilibrium. Equilibrium in this case means a maximum entropy distribution. Which way will energy flow so as to maximize this. Well, we just take the derivative of entropy with respect to energy transfer, and we get the equilibrium condition. T is (partial S / partial E)^(-1)