adiabatic

See also: adiabàtic

English

A graph of pressure as a function of volume, for an adiabatic process

Etymology

19th-century coinage (introduced by W. J. M. Rankine in the 1860s) based on Ancient Greek ἀδιάβατος (adiábatos, “impassable”), used of terrain (rivers, forests) by Xenophon, from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + διά (diá, “through”) + βατός (batós, “passable”), from βαίνω (baínō, “to go”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌeɪ.dɪəˈbæt.ɪk/, /ˌæd.ɪəˈbæt.ɪk/, /ˌeɪ.daɪ.əˈbæt.ɪk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ætɪk

Adjective

adiabatic (not comparable)

1. (physics, thermodynamics, of a process) That occurs without gain or loss of heat (and thus with no change in entropy, in the quasistatic approximation).

   Antonym: diabatic

   • 1871, James Clerk Maxwell, Theory of Heat‎^[1], page 129:

     The line drawn on the indicator diagram in the latter case has been named by Professor Rankine an Adiabatic line, because it is defined by the condition that heat is not allowed to pass through (διαβαίνειν) the vessel which confines the substance.

   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, page 737:

     Talk of dynamic compression and adiabatic gradients didn't carry as much weight as the certainty of its conscious intent.

2. (physics, quantum mechanics, of a process) That involves the slow change of the Hamiltonian of a system from its initial value to a final value.

   Antonym: nonadiabatic

   • 1961, Albert Messiah, Quantum Mechanics‎^[2], volume II, page 740:

     In this section we examine the limiting cases when T is very small (sudden change) and very large (adiabatic change).

Derived terms

• adiabat
• adiabatically
• adiabatic cooling
• adiabaticity
• adiabatic lapse rate
• adiabatic wall
• antiadiabatic
• moist-adiabatic
• subadiabatic
• superadiabatic

 

Related terms

• diabatic

Translations

occurring without gain or loss of heat

• Basque: adiabatiko
• Catalan: adiabàtic (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 絕熱的／绝热的 (zh) (juérè de)

• Czech: adiabatický (cs)
• Finnish: adiabaattinen (fi)
• French: adiabatique (fr)
• German: adiabatisch (de)
• Greek: αδιαβατικός (el) (adiavatikós)
• Hindi: रुद्धोष्म (ruddhoṣma)
• Irish: aidiabatach
• Italian: adiabatico (it)
• Kazakh: адиабаталық (adiabatalyq), адиабаттық (adiabattyq)
• Persian: آدیاباتیک (âdiyâbâtik), بی‌دررو (bi-dar-row)
• Polish: adiabatyczny (pl)
• Portuguese: adiabático m
• Romanian: adiabatic (ro)
• Russian: адиабати́ческий (ru) (adiabatíčeskij)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: адија̀батскӣ

  Roman: adijàbatskī (sh)

• Spanish: adiabático (es)
• Swedish: adiabatisk (sv)
• Tagalog: kakaintan

Noun

adiabatic (plural adiabatics)

1. An adiabatic curve or graph

Further reading

• adiabatic on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French adiabatique.

Adjective

adiabatic m or n (feminine singular adiabatică, masculine plural adiabatici, feminine and neuter plural adiabatice)

1. adiabatic

Declension

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	adiabatic		adiabatică		adiabatici	adiabatice
	definite	adiabaticul		adiabatica		adiabaticii	adiabaticele
genitive- dative	indefinite	adiabatic		adiabatice		adiabatici	adiabatice
	definite	adiabaticului		adiabaticei		adiabaticilor	adiabaticelor