| | IoHT :: 50+ Variations of Equilibrium (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01) |
 | | – a process is called quasi-static when it follows a succession of equilibrium states; the surroundings may be irreversibly altered during the process so that after a return path, the universe ends up in a final state which differs from its initial state [PP]. |
 | | – outside of the extrema, there is no possible equilibrium and the states are merely unstable: the system evolves spontaneously towards an equilibrium, stable or Metastable, although the evolution may be very slow. |
 | | a state of balance between opposing forces or actions that is either static, as in a body acted on by forces whose resultant is zero, or dynamic, as in a reversible chemical reaction when the rates of reaction in both directions are equilibrium |
| www.humanthermodynamics.com /equilibrium.html (1822 words) |