Temperature
Temperature
Temperature is one of the basic variables in science and its measurement is crucial
in industry and science. The concept of temperature is familiar to us from our day-
to-day experience of hot and cold objects. Indeed, temperature can be defined
qualitatively as a measure or degree of hotness. Systems or objects can be ranked in
a sequence according to their hotness and each system assigned a number, its
temperature. Linked to the concept of hotness is heat transfer, the flow of thermal
energy. It is a common experience that heat transfer will occur between a hot and a
cold object. Temperature can be viewed accordingly as a potential, and temperature
difference as the force that impels heat transfer from one object or system to
another at a lower temperature.
Some descriptions/definition of temperature are as under
Temperature of a body is its thermal state, regarded as James Clerk Maxwell,
a measure of its ability to transfer heat to other bodies
Temperature is defined as the degree of hotness or Max Planck
coldness of a body.
The temperature of a system is a property that Zemansky and Dittman
determines whether a system is in thermal equilibrium
with other systems.
Temperature is the parameter of state that is inversely Quinn
proportional to the rate of change of the log of the
number of accessible states as a function of energy for a
system in thermal equilibrium.
• The value assigned to the second radiation constant became 1.438 × 10–2
m K;
• The permitted ranges for the constants in the interpolating formulae for
the PRTs and thermocouples were modified.
• The limitation on λT for optical pyrometry (λT < 3 × 10–3 m K) was
changed to the requirement that "visible" radiation be used.
• The Ratio R100/R0 which indicates the purity of platinum used in PRT ,
was tightened from 1.390 to 1.3910
• Degree of temperature was designated degree Celsius in place of degree
centigrade.
• The zero of ITS-48 was defined as being 0.0100°C below the triple point of
water.
The eleventh CGPM adopted six additional changes in ITS-48 and renamed it as the
International Practical Temperature Scale of 1948 (IPTS -48) [Amended edition of
CGPM 1960]. The 48 retained in the title because values of temperature remained
same on these two scales the modifications to the ITS-48 were:
• The triple point of water, with an assigned value of 273.16 K which in 1954
had become the sole point defining the unit of thermodynamic temperature,
the kelvin, replaced the melting point of ice as the calibration point in this
region; The thermodynamic scale redefined to single fixed point – triple point
of water - rather than in terms of the difference between the ice point &
steam point.
• The triple point of became one of the six defining fixed points of IPTS-48.
• The freezing point of zinc, defined as 419.505 °C, became a preferred
alternative to the sulphur boiling point (444.6 °C) as a calibration point.
• The zero of IPTS-48 was redefined as being 0.01°C below the triple point of
water.
• The Ratio R100/R0 which indicates the purity of platinum used in PRT , was
again tightened from 1.3910 to 1.3920
• The permitted ranges of the constants of the interpolation formulae for the
platinum resistance thermometers and the thermocouples were further
modified;
As the numerical values of temperature on the ITS-48 were the same as on
the IPTS-48, the latter was not a revision of the scale of 1948 but merely an
amended form of it.
Where the coefficients Ai are given in Table 2 The reference resistance ratio
Wref is defined by Wref= WM – ΔW where WM is the measured resistance ratio
Rt/R0 and ΔW is a deviation defined by a specific polynomial interpolation
equation for each part of range 1 in Table 3
• In Range 2 the Callender equation is modified by a correction term so that
the interpolated values of temperature will conform more closely with
thermodynamic temperatures.
T68=t΄+Δt where t΄ is the temperature by Callendar equation (1) & Δt is a
correction term given by
Table:2 The Coefficient (Ai) for use with the New Reference
Function in Range 1
The International Practical Temperature Scale of 1968, amended edition of
1975 [CGPM 1975] was adopted by the fifteenth CGPM in 1975. As was the
case for the IPTS-48 vis-à-vis the ITS-48, the IPTS-68(75) introduced no
numerical changes in any measured temperature T68. Most of the extensive
textual changes in the scale were intended only to clarify and simplify its use.
More substantive changes were:
The condensation points of oxygen replaced, with no change in numerical
value, the boiling point of oxygen;
• The triple point of argon (83.798 K) was introduced as a permitted
alternative to the condensation point of oxygen;
• New values of the isotopic composition of naturally occurring neon were
adopted;
• The recommendation to use the helium vapour pressure scales was
withdrawn.
The International Temperature Scale of 1990 was adopted by the CIPM in 1989 [CIPM1989] in
accordance with the request embodied in Resolution 7 of the 18th CGPM [CGPM 1987] and
came into effect on 1 January 1990. The full text of the ITS-90 is available on the BIPM
website; the following excerpt (the introduction to Section 3 of the text of the ITS-90) constitutes
a brief description:
• Between 0.65 K and 5.0 K, T90 is defined in terms of the vapour-pressure
temperature relations of 3He and 4He.
• Between 3.0 K and the triple point of neon (24.5561 K), T90 is defined by means of a
helium gas thermometer calibrated at three experimentally realizable temperatures
having assigned numerical values (defining fixed points) and using specified interpolation
procedures.
• Between the triple point of equilibrium hydrogen (13.8033 K) and the freezing point
of silver (1234.93 K), T90 is defined by means of PRTs calibrated at specified sets of defining
fixed points and using specified interpolation procedures.
• Above the freezing point of silver (1234.93 K), T90 is defined in terms of a defining fixed
point and the Planck radiation law.
The ITS-90 differs from the IPTS-68 in several important respects:
• It extends to lower temperature, 0.65 K instead of 13.8 K, and hence also replaces the
EPT-76 from 0.65 K to 30 K. The range was limited to 0.65 K for the simple reason that it
did not seem possible to measure 3He vapour pressures below 100 Pa with the small relative
uncertainty of order 0.1 % to achieve an uncertainty of T90 of 0.1 mK.
• In most ranges, it is in closer agreement with thermodynamic temperatures.
• It has improved continuity and accuracy.
• It has a number of overlapping ranges and sub-ranges, and in certain ranges it has
alternative but substantially equivalent definitions.
• New versions of the helium vapour-pressure scales are not merely recommended but
are an integral part of the scale.
• It includes a gas thermometer, calibrated at three fixed points, as one of the
defining instruments.
• The upper limit of the PRT as the defining instrument has been raised from 630 °C
to the silver point (961.78 °C).
• The Pt10%Rh-Pt thermocouple is no longer a defining instrument of the scale, and thus
the slope discontinuity, which existed in IPTS-68 at 630 °C, the junction between the
PRT and thermocouple ranges, has been removed.
• The range based upon the Planck radiation law begins at the silver point instead at the
gold point, and any one of the silver, gold or copper freezing points may be
selected as the reference point for this part of the scale.