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Article

The measurment of thermodynamic temperature

DEC 01, 1982
Temperature is defined through thermodynamics, and values on practical temperature scales are derived from measurements with several thermometers based on fundamental thermodynamic or statistical‐mechanical principles.
Leslie A. Guildner

We owe the concept of “thermodynamic temperature” to Sadi Carnot, William Thomson and Rudolf Clausius. This very basic property is measured in the Systeme Internationale of units by the kelvin, defined in terms of the thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water. In principle, any other temperature may be determined by its ratio to this defined temperature. In practice, however, it is almost always more convenient to measure an approximation of the thermodynamic temperature by using one of the familiar thermometers (platinum resistance, thermocouple, radiation pyrometer, and so on).

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References

  1. 1. K. H. Berry, Metrologia 15, 89 (1979).https://doi.org/MTRGAU

  2. 2. L. A. Guildner, R. E. Edsinger, J. Res. Nat. Bur. Stds. 80A, 703 (1976).

  3. 3. C. P. Pickup, Metrologia 11, 151 (1975).https://doi.org/MTRGAU

  4. 4. H.‐H. Klein, G. Klempt, L. Storm, Metrologia 15, 143 (1979).https://doi.org/MTRGAU

  5. 5. R. J. Soulen Jr, Proc. Fifth Int. Conf. On Noise, Dietrich Wolf, ed., Springer, Berlin, (1978), page 249.

  6. 6. A. R. Colclough, Proc. Roy. Soc. (London) A365, 349 (1979).

  7. 7. T. Jones, J. Tapping, Temperature, Its Measurement and Control in Science and Industry, Vol. 5, AIP, New York (1982), page 169.

  8. 8. T. J. Quinn, J. E. Martin, Temperature etc, page 103.

  9. 9. D. Gugan, G. W. Michel, Metrologia 16, 149 (1980).https://doi.org/MTRGAU

  10. 10. H. Marshak, R. J. Soulen Jr, Low Temperature Physics LT‐13, Vol. 4, Plenum, New York (1974) page 498.

More about the authors

Leslie A. Guildner, National Bureau of Standards.

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This Content Appeared In
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Volume 35, Number 12

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