n. Equipoise; the state of being equally balanced; a situation of a body in which the forces acting on it balance one another; also, a determination of forces such that they balance one another, so that their resultant vanishes.n. The state of balance of any causes, powers, or motives, so that no effect is produced.n. A state of just poise; a position of due balance.n. In the fine arts: The just poise or balance of a figure or other object, making it appear to stand firmly. The properly balanced disposition or arrangement of objects, lights, shadows, etc.n. Equality of influence or effect; due or just relationship.n. n. Indifferent or neutral equilibrium, when the vertical gradient of temperature in still air is exactly equal to the adiabatic rate in moving air, and a disturbed mass stays in its new location.n. Unstable equilibrium, when the vertical gradient of temperature in still air is greater than the adiabatic rate in moving air. In this ease the mass of air when once started in vertical motion continues to rise or fall as the case may be, because the thermodynamic change in its own temperature is less than the change actually existing in the surrounding atmosphere. A thunder-storm, with its ascending currents and formation of tall cumuli, illustrates unstable equilibrium.n. In chem.: An assumed condition of a mass consisting of the same or of different kinds of matter, in which apparently no chemical change is going on, but in which it is imagined that individual atoms are exchanging places with others of exactly similar character, so that in a given (perhaps extremely short) time many molecules may be decomposed and precisely as many molecules, of absolutely similar character, formed.n. The equilibrium of a liquid cooled, out of contact with its solid phase, below the temperature of equilibrium between the liquid and the solid; or of a liquid heated, out of contact with its vapor, above the temperature of equilibrium between the liquid and the vapor having a pressure equal to the actual pressure on the liquid. Water, free from ice, may be cooled many degrees below its usual freezing-point; when brought into contact with a fragment of ice, sometimes when disturbed mechanically, part of the water instantly freezes, and the temperature rises, from that of the labile equilibrium of water alone, to that of the stable equilibrium between water and ice.
