different between equilibrium vs tricritical

English

Alternative forms

• æquilibrium (dated)

Etymology

From Latin aequil?brium, from equal + l?bra (“balance”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?kw??l?b???m/, /i?kw??l?b???m/

Noun

equilibrium (plural equilibriums or equilibria)

1. The condition of a system in which competing influences are balanced, resulting in no net change.
   • 1999, The Matrix, Agent Smith speech

     Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus.

2. Mental balance.
3. (chemistry) The state of a reaction in which the rates of the forward and reverse reactions are the same.
4. (physics) The state of a body at rest or in uniform motion in which the resultant of all forces on it is zero.

Synonyms

• (a condition of a system in which competing influences are balanced): balance, stability
• (mental balance): sanity

Antonyms

• (a condition of a system in which competing influences are balanced): disequilibrium, imbalance, instability
• (in physics): disequilibrium, non-equilibrium
• (mental balance): insanity, instability, madness

Hypernyms

• (in physics): stasis

Hyponyms

• (in physics): heat death (thermodynamic equilibrium state of maximum entropy)

Derived terms

Related terms

• equilibrate
• equilibrize

Translations

References

English

Etymology

tri- +? critical

Adjective

tricritical (not comparable)

1. (physics) Describing a condition, in condensed matter, in which three phases are in equilibrium

Related terms

• polycritical
• tricriticality