| NSES Content Standard Unifying Concepts
and Processes:
Evolution and equilibrium Grades K-12, page 119 Equilibrium is a physical state in which forces and changes occur in
opposite and off-setting directions: for example, opposite forces are of
the same magnitude, or off-setting changes occur at equal rates. Steady
state, balance, and homeostasis also describe equilibrium states. Interacting
units of matter tend toward equilibrium states in which the energy is distributed
as randomly and uniformly as possible.
|
Benchmark 11C Common Themes: Constancy
and Change
Grades 6-8, page 274
A system may stay the same because nothing is happening or because
things are happening but exactly counterbalance one another.
See also Chapter 11 Common Themes, Section C: Constancy and Change,
for precursor ideas.