A METHOD OF HEAT-CAPACITY MEASUREMENT WITHOUT THERMOMETER CALIBRATION

A new method for measuring heat capacities that makes the calibration of thermometers obsolete is presented. The particularity of the princi ple, based on the ac steady-state method, is the insertion of a refere nce mass with a heater between the ensemble substrate+sample+thermomet er+heater, and the bath. The method could find a broad application in calorimetric devices where the thermometer must often be recalibrated due to, e.g., a drift of the thermometer's characteristics with therma l cycles or magnetic field. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.