adjective
- relating to or denoting a process in which heat does not enter or leave a system
Usage: technical; physics
Examples
- In an adiabatic compression, the gas heats up without any external heat source.
- The adiabatic process occurs when a system is perfectly insulated from its surroundings.
- Weather forecasters use adiabatic cooling to predict temperature changes in rising air masses.
- An adiabatic expansion of a gas causes its temperature to decrease.
- The atmosphere undergoes adiabatic processes when air parcels rise or sink without exchanging heat.