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Instrument

Calorimeter

Physics
Calorimeter glyph

A calorimeter is a device used for calorimetry, measuring the heat released or absorbed during a chemical reaction or physical change.

Facts
Invented Year
1782 1
The term calorimeter was coined by Antoine Lavoisier in 1780; the first ice calorimeter was built by Lavoisier and Pierre-Simon Laplace over the winter of 1782-83, building on Joseph Black's 1761 discovery of latent heat.
Measures
Heat released or absorbed (enthalpy of reaction) and heat capacity. 1
Operating Principle
Measures the temperature change produced in a known mass and specific heat capacity of surrounding material (or, in the original ice calorimeter, the mass of ice melted) to calculate the energy given off or absorbed. 1
Resolution
Semi-adiabatic (isoperibol) calorimeters can measure temperature changes as small as 10 to the minus 6 degrees Celsius. 1
Open Questions
Operating Range
Not stated as a numeric figure in the cited source. 1
No explicit numeric operating temperature or heat-quantity range is given by the cited source for calorimeters in general; ranges vary widely by subtype (bomb, ice, differential scanning) and are not consolidated into one figure there.
Classification
Instrument Class
Measurement or Metrology Instrument 1
Connections

Invented By

Antoine Lavoisier, Scientists

With Pierre-Simon Laplace, whose own entity is not yet live on this atlas; one of the first ice calorimeters was used by the pair in the winter of 1782-83.

Source Calorimeter (Wikipedia)

Used In

Chemistry, Disciplines
Source Calorimeter (Wikipedia)
Thermodynamics, Disciplines

A calorimeter is one of the measurement devices used in the study of thermodynamics.

Source Calorimeter (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Calorimeter (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia
  • Lead section
    A calorimeter is a device used for calorimetry, or the process of measuring the heat of chemical reactions or physical changes as well as heat capacity.
  • History section
    One of the first ice calorimeters was used in the winter of 1782-83 by Lavoisier and Pierre-Simon Laplace.
  • Overview section
    A simple calorimeter just consists of a thermometer attached to a metal container full of water suspended above a combustion chamber.
  • Adiabatic and isoperibol calorimeters section
    semi-adiabatic (isoperibol) calorimeters measure temperature changes up to 10−6 °C
  • Lede, instrument class
    A calorimeter is a device used for calorimetry, measuring the heat released or absorbed during a chemical reaction or physical change.
  • Invented By: Antoine Lavoisier
  • Used In: Thermodynamics, Applications section
    It is one of the measurement devices used in the study of thermodynamics, chemistry, and biochemistry.
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