Category:Experiments

From ThermoWiki

Thermodynamics provides no numerical values for any quantity: it only provides relations among quantities. To obtain numbers, we must perform experiments. However, the many relations provided by thermodynamics reduce the total number of experiments that must be done: we measure some minimum number of quantities and invoke thermodynamic relations to compute the rest.

This suggests that thermodynamics can be used to minimize the amount of experiment that must be done, though measurements cannot be eliminated completely. Experiments necessarily reveal and quantify the rich behavior of materials. Moreover, experiment both motivates and guides theoretical efforts aimed at interpreting and correlating phenomena. Even when theoretical models are reliable, experimental data are needed to provide values for any parameters contained in the models. Thus, thermodynamics is intimately and irrevocably tied to experiment.

In this category you may find descriptions of some common ways for measuring values for selected thermodynamic quantities.