Thermalisation

In physics, thermalisation (in American English thermalization) is the process of physical bodies reaching thermal equilibrium through mutual interaction. In general the natural tendency of a system is towards a state of equipartition of energy or uniform temperature, maximising the system's entropy.

Examples of thermalisation include:

• the achievement of equilibrium in a plasma
• the process undergone by high-energy neutrons as they lose energy by collision with a moderator.

External links

Look up thermalization in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Collisions and thermalization
• U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Glossary