zeroth law of thermodynamics
Definition 1.1
If two
systems, A and B, are separately in
equilibrium
with a third system C, then they are also in equilibrium with one another.
Remark 1.1
The zeroth law of thermodynamics describes the transitive nature of
thermal equilibrium.
Remark 1.2
Despite its apparent simplicity, the zeroth law has the consequence of implying the existence of an important
state function, the empirical
temperature

, such that systems in equilibrium are at the same temperature.
References
This is a derivative work from [1] a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 work
[1] MIT OpenCourseWare, 8.333 Statistical Mechanics I: statistical mechanics
of Particles, Fall 2007
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