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Pierce
Case Institute of Technology
Cleveland, Ohio A Simple Flow Calorimeter
I n elementary physical chemistry The heat dissipated by the heater is partly taken up
courses the heat capacities of gases are a topic which by the gas flowing over the heater and partly lost to
can be discussed from a kinetic theory viewpoint. the surroundings of the apparatus according to the
Unfortunately, there are few laboratory experiments following equation':
which allow a direct determination of the heat capacities Q = GATR+ L (1)
of gases and therefore an experimental verification of
some of the results of kinetic theory. This article where
describes a simple flow calorimeter that can be con- Q EI = rate of heat production in the resistor,
=
structed from materials that are available from chemi- cp the mean heat capacity of the gas over the temperature
=
cal supply houses. The calorimeter in this form interval AT,
gives heat capacities which deviate from the accepted AT = the temperature change of the gas flowing over the
values by *3%. The experimental results can be heater,
R = the rate of flow of the ges, and
compared with the predictions of kinetic theory and L = the rate of heat loss to the surroundings.
hence integrated into the results of elementary lecture
courses in physical chemistry. Furthermore with the Since AT is small, the heat losses t,o the surroundings
growing interest in high temperature phenomena, are proportional to AT
flow measurements are again of interest. The method = KAT (2)
of treatment of the data shows the student how heat
losses in calorimetric measurements can be taken The factor K is determined by the thermal characteris-
into account in calculations. tics of the materials that make up the calorimeter and
Figure 1 is a diagram of the calorimeter. The outer the geometry of the apparatus. The heat balance
jacket is the outer tube for a hydrogen electrode as- equation becomes
sembly. The two thermometers can be read to 0.2 Q = ?*ATR + KAT (3)
degree. The heater is made of Nichrome wire (BS 29) If we divide equation (3) by AT we obtain
&/AT = C n +~ K (4)
If we determine Q and AT at various flow rates and
plot Q/AT against R, the slope of the straight line
obtained will be the mean heat capacity of the gas.
I t is necessary to keep AT the same for all measure-
ments if * varies greatly with temperature.
The dot notation used here designate the variation of the
HEATER quantity with time. Thus Q = dQldt.
- # A 0 INLET
INLET TIERYOMETER
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