1Relating to or denoting a process or condition in which heat does not enter or leave the system concerned.
‘the adiabatic expansion of a perfect gas’
‘This is what makes the air cooler higher up: the process is called adiabatic expansion/compression.’
‘The quantum and classical Carnot engines therefore operate in the same way - a closed cycle of two isothermal and two adiabatic processes.’
‘Working closely with environmental engineers, Arup New York, it settled on a passive climate controlled system known as adiabatic cooling, which takes advantage of the hot arid climate.’
‘Entropy, according to the 2nd law, can indeed remain constant but only either in reversible adiabatic processes or in reversible cycles.’
‘My genetic code has been perfected by an intricate adiabatic process over ten decades, and I am practically immortal.’
1.1Impassable to heat.
noun
Physics
A curve or formula representing adiabatic phenomena.
‘On the thermal plane, the adiabatics appear as straight lines corresponding to different entropies.’
Origin
Late 19th century from Greek adiabatos ‘impassable’, from a- ‘not’ + dia ‘through’ + batos ‘passable’ (from bainein ‘go’), + -ic.
Are You Learning English? Here Are Our Top English Tips