APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MEASURING THE ENERGY OF A CHEMICAL REACTION

摘要

An adiabatic reaction calorimeter useful for measuring the heat energy of a chemical reaction is disclosed. The calorimeter includes a bomb vessel which is thermally isolated within a sealed chamber. The chamber, which is filled with a gaseous atmosphere, is defined within a box structure fabricated of an insulating material. An auxiliary vessel is positioned in the chamber adjacent to the bomb vessel and is connected to the bomb vessel by a transfer conduit. Temperature sensing means and heating means under the control of a temperature control unit are provided to control the temperature of the atmosphere to correspond to the temperature of the bomb vessel during the chemical reaction in the bomb vessel. A differential temperature range is determined by measuring the steady state temperature before a chemical reaction and the final temperature at the completion of the reaction. The differential temperature range is translated into units of energy corresponding to the energy of the chemical reaction. The adiabatic reaction calorimeter is useful in obtaining extremely accurate measurements of the energy of exothermic or endothermic chemical reactions.