Inventing Temperature

by Hasok Chang

  *Operationalization. The process of giving operational meaning to a concept where there was none before. Operationalization may or may not involve the specification of explicit measurement methods.

  Ordinal scale. A scale of measurement that only gives an ordering, rather than assignments of full-fledged numbers. An ordinal scale may have numerals attached to it, but those numerals are really names, not true numbers. A thermoscope has an ordinal scale. Cf. cardinal scale.

  Porous plug experiment. See Joule-Thomson experiment.

  *Pressure-balance theory of boiling. The popular nineteenth-century theory that boiling took place when the vapor pressure of a liquid matched the external pressure. In other words, the liquid starts to boil when it reaches the temperature that allows it to produce vapor with sufficient pressure to overcome the external pressure that would confine it within the liquid.

  *Principle of respect. The maxim that a previously established system of knowledge should not be discarded lightly. The acceptance of a previous system is necessary first of all because one needs some starting point in the process of inquiry. It is also based on the recognition that an established system of knowledge probably had some respectable merits that gave it a broad appeal in the first place.

  *Principle of single value. The principle that a real physical property cannot take more than one definite value in a given situation. It is the principle behind the criterion of comparability. It is an example of an ontological principle.

  *Problem of nomic measurement. The problem of circularity in attempting to justify a measurement method that relies on an empirical law that connects the quantity to be measured with another quantity that is (more) directly observable. The verification of the law would requires the knowledge of various values of the quantity to be measured, which one cannot reliably obtain without confidence in the method of measurement.

  end p.256

  Quicksilver. Mercury, especially conceived as an essentially fluid metal.

  Radiation, or radiant heat. An unmediated and instantaneous (or nearly instantaneous) transfer of heat across a distance. Radiant heat was studied systematically starting with Marc-Auguste Pictet's experiments and Pierre Prevost's theory of exchanges, around 1790. Well into the nineteenth century, it was commonly understood as caloric flying around at great speeds, despite Count Rumford's argument that it consisted in vibrations in the ether.

  Réaumur scale. A thermometric scale that was popular in French-speaking Europe, commonly attributed to R. A. F. de Réaumur. The standardized form of this scale was actually due to Jean-André De Luc, who used mercury (Réaumur used alcohol) and graduated the instrument to read 0°R at the freezing/melting point and 80°R at the boiling point (Réaumur used a one-point method).

  Reductive doctrine of meaning. The idea that the meaning of a concept does, or should, only consist in its method of measurement. This is often considered an essential part of Percy Bridgman's operationalism.

  Respect. See principle of respect.

  Reversibility, reversible engine. A reversible heat engine can be "run backwards," with an expenditure of the same amount of mechanical work that would have been produced by going through the operations in the normal way. In Sadi Carnot's theory, the ideal heat engine is postulated to be completely reversible. The idea behind that requirement was that a transfer of heat across a finite temperature gap (which would not be a reversible process) would involve a waste of potential mechanical effect that could be produced. An aspect of that intuition was preserved in later thermodynamics in the idea that a heat transfer across a temperature gap resulted in an increase in entropy.

  *Royal Society committee on thermometry. A seven-person committee, chaired by Henry Cavendish and including Jean-André De Luc as a member, appointed by the Royal Society of London in 1776 to arrive at the definitive method of graduating thermometers, particularly setting the fixed points. Its report was published in the following year (Cavendish et al. 1777).

  Royal Society scale. A thermometric scale used for a time (at least in the 1730s) in weather observations commissioned by the Royal Society of London. Its origin is unclear. It was marked 0° at "extreme heat" (around 90°F or 32°C), with numbers increasing with increasing cold. This scale has no relation to the later work of the Royal Society committee on thermometry.

  Saturated vapor. If a body of water evaporates into an enclosed space as much as possible, then the space is said to be "saturated" with vapor. Similarly, if such a maximum evaporation would occur into an enclosed space containing air, the air is said to be saturated. Perhaps more confusingly, it is also said under those circumstances that the vapor itself is saturated.

  *Semantic extension. The act of giving any sort of meaning to a concept in a domain where it did not have a clear meaning before. Operational extension is a type of semantic extension, and metrological extension is a type of operational extension.

  Sensible heat. Heat that is perceivable by the senses or detectable by thermometers (cf. latent heat). In the chemical caloric theory, sensible heat was understood as free caloric.

  Shooting. The sudden freezing of supercooled water (or another liquid), with ice crystals "shooting out" from a catalytic point. Shooting can be caused by many factors, such as mechanical agitation or the insertion of an ice crystal. The normal result of shooting is the production of just the right amount of ice to release enough latent heat to bring up the temperature of the whole to the normal freezing point.

  Single value. See principle of single value.

  Specific heat. The amount of heat required to raise the temperature of an object by a unit amount. The specific heat of a substance is expressed as the specific heat for a unit quantity of that substance. There were difficulties in determining whether the specific heat of a given object or substance was a function of its temperature. For gases there was an additional

  end p.257

  complication, which was noted when the experimental techniques attained sufficient precision: specific heat under constant pressure was greater than specific heat under constant volume. Cf. heat capacity.

  Spirit (of wine). Ethyl alcohol, commonly obtained by distilling wine.

  States of matter. Solid, liquid, and gas. It was common knowledge that changes of state were caused by the addition or abstraction of heat, but it was Joseph Black who first clearly conceptualized the latent heat involved in changes of state. Most calorists shared Lavoisier's idea that the repulsive force of caloric was responsible for the loosening of intermolecular attractions, which was required to turn solids into liquids and liquids into gases.

  Steam point. The temperature of steam boiled off from water. There were debates on whether the steam point was the same as the boiling point. Henry Cavendish argued in the Royal Society committee on thermometry that the steam point (under fixed pressure) was more reliably fixed than the boiling point. Afterwards the steam point was more commonly used than the boiling point in making precision thermometers.

  Subtle fluid. An all-pervasive fluid imperceptible to ordinary senses (although its effects may be perceivable). Examples of subtle fluids include caloric, phlogiston, electric and magnetic fluids, and ether. They were also often referred to as imponderable fluid, with a focus on their (apparent) lack of weight.

  Supercooling. The cooling of a liquid below its normal freezing point. Supercooling was observed in the eighteenth century not only in water but also in molten metals. Supercooling in water, first recorded by Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit in 1724, presented a challenge to the presumed fixity of the freezing point. Supercooling in mercury presented puzzling anomalies in the workings of the mercury thermometer.

  Superheating. The heating of a liquid above its normal boiling point. The superheating of water presents a problem for the presumed fixity of the boiling point. In debates about superheating and its implications, it is important to keep in mind the difference between the temperature that water can withstand without boiling, and the temperature that water maintains while boi
ling. Superheating can happen in both of those senses, though the latter is more of a problem for the fixing of the boiling point.

  *Thermoscope. A temperature-measuring instrument that indicates the relative changes or comparisons of temperatures, without giving numbers. A thermoscope has an ordinal scale, unlike a thermometer, which has a cardinal scale.

  Two-point method. Any method of graduating thermometers using two fixed points (cf. one-point method). Most commonly, the scale was obtained by assuming that the thermometric fluid expanded linearly with temperature between and beyond the fixed points.

  Underdetermination (of theory by evidence). The fact, or the fear, that there are always multiple theories all compatible with any given set of empirical evidence.

  Vapor pressure. The pressure of a saturated vapor produced by evaporation from a liquid. From the late eighteenth century, vapor pressure was widely recognized to be a function of temperature, and of temperature only. That assumption played a key role not only in establishing the pressure-balance theory of boiling, but also in William Thomson's attempts to operationalize absolute temperature.

  Water calorimetry. The measurement of the quantity of heat through the heating of water. A hot object is introduced into a measured amount of cold water at a previously known temperature, and the amount of heat given from the hot object to the cold water is calculated as the product of the temperature rise in the water and its specific heat. This simple scheme had to be modified when it was recognized that the specific heat of water was itself a function of temperature.

  end p.258

  Bibliography

  Aitken, John. 1878. "On Boiling, Condensing, Freezing, and Melting." Transactions of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts 9:240-287. Read on 26 July 1875.

  ———. 1880-81. "On Dust, Fogs, and Clouds." Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 30(1):337-368. Read on 20 December 1880 and 7 February 1881.

  ———. 1923. Collected Scientific Papers of John Aitken. Edited by C. G. Knott. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  Amontons, Guillaume. 1702. "Discours sur quelques propriétés de l'air, & le moyen d'en connoître la temperature dans tous les climats de la terre." Histoire de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, avec les Mémoires de mathématique et de physique, vol. for 1702, part for memoirs: 155-174.

  ———. 1703. "Le Thermomètre réduit à une mesure fixe & certaine, & le moyen d'y rapporter les observations faites avec les ancien Thermomètres." Histoire de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, avec les Mémoires de mathématique et de physique, vol. for 1703, part for memoirs: 50-56.

  Atkins, P. W. 1987. Physical Chemistry. 3d ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  Bacon, Francis. [1620] 2000. The New Organon. Edited by Lisa Jardine and Michael Silverthorne. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  Ball, Philip. 1999. H 2 O: A Biography of Water. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.

  Barnett, Martin K. 1956. "The Development of Thermometry and the Temperature Concept." Osiris 12:269-341.

  Beckman, Olof. 1998. "Celsius, Linné, and the Celsius Temperature Scale." Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society, no. 56:17-23.

  Bentham, Jeremy. 1843. The Works of Jeremy Bentham. Edited by John Bowring. 11 vols. Edinburgh: William Tait.

  Bergman, Torbern. 1783. Outlines of Mineralogy. Translated by William Withering. Birmingham: Piercy and Jones.

  Biot, Jean-Baptiste. 1816. Traité de physique expérimentale et mathématique. 4 vols. Paris: Deterville.

  Birch, Thomas. [1756-57] 1968. History of the Royal Society of London. 4 vols. New York: Johnson Reprint Co., 1968. Originally published in 1756 and 1757 in London by Millar.

  end p.259

  [Black, Joseph.] 1770. An Enquiry into the General Effects of Heat; with Observations on the Theories of Mixture. London: Nourse.

  ———. 1775. "The Supposed Effect of Boiling upon Water, in Disposing It to Freeze More Readily, Ascertained by Experiments." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 65:124-128.

  ———. 1803. Lectures on the Elements of Chemistry. Edited by John Robison. 2 vols. London: Longman and Rees; Edinburgh: William Creech.

  Blagden, Charles. 1783. "History of the Congelation of Quicksilver." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 73:329-397.

  ———. 1788. "Experiments on the Cooling of Water below Its Freezing Point." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 78:125-146.

  Bloor, David. 1991. Knowledge and Social Imagery. 2d ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

  Boerhaave, Herman. [1732] 1735. Elements of Chemistry: Being the Annual Lectures of Hermann Boerhaave, M.D. Translated by Timothy Dallowe, M.D. 2 vols. London: Pemberton. Originally published as Elementa Chemiae in 1732.

  Bogen, James, and James Woodward. 1988. "Saving the Phenomena." Philosophical Review 97:302-352.

  Bolton, Henry Carrington. 1900. The Evolution of the Thermometer, 1592-1743. Easton, Pa.: Chemical Publishing Company.

  Boudouard, O.: see Le Chatelier and Boudouard.

  Bouty, Edmond. 1915. "La Physique." In La Science Française [à l'Exposition de San Francisco], vol. 1, 131-151. Paris: Larousse.

  Boyd, Richard. 1990. "Realism, Approximate Truth, and Philosophical Method." In C. Wade Savage, ed., Scientific Theories, 355-391. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

  Boyer, Carl B. 1942. "Early Principles in the Calibration of Thermometers." American Journal of Physics 10:176-180.

  Brande, William Thomas. 1819. A Manual of Chemistry; Containing the Principal Facts of the Science, Arranged in the Order in which they are Discussed and Illustrated in the Lectures at the Royal Institution of Great Britain. London: John Murray.

  Braun: see Watson.

  Bridgman, Percy Williams. 1927. The Logic of Modern Physics. New York: Macmillan.

  ———. 1929. "The New Vision of Science." Harper's 158:443-454. Also reprinted in Bridgman 1955.

  ———. 1955. Reflections of a Physicist. New York: Philosophical Library.

  ———. 1959. The Way Things Are. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

  Brown, Harold I. 1993. "A Theory-Laden Observation Can Test the Theory." British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 44:555-559.

  Brown, Sanborn C.: see also Rumford 1968.

  Brown, Sanborn C. 1979. Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

  Brush, Stephen G. 1976. The Kind of Motion We Call Heat: A History of the Kinetic Theory of Gases in the 19th Century. 2 vols. Amsterdam: North-Holland.

  ———, ed. 1965. Kinetic Theory. Vol. 1, The Nature of Gases and of Heat. Oxford: Pergamon Press.

  Burton, Anthony. 1976. Josiah Wedgwood: A Biography. London: André Deutsch.

  Callendar, Hugh Longbourne. 1887. "On the Practical Measurement of Temperature: Experiments Made at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A178:161-230.

  Cardwell, Donald S. L. 1971. From Watt to Clausius. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.

  ———. 1989. James Joule: A Biography. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

  end p.260

  ———, ed. 1968. John Dalton and the Progress of Science. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

  Carnot, Nicolas-Léonard-Sadi. [1824] 1986. Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire. Translated and edited by Robert Fox, along with other manuscripts. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Originally published in 1824 as Réflexions sur la puissance motrice du feu et sur les machines propres à développer cette puissance in Paris by Bachelier.

  Cartwright, Nancy. 1983. How the Laws of Physics Lie. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

  ———. 1999. The Dappled World: A Study of the Boundaries of Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  Cartwright, Nancy, Jordi Cat, Lola Fleck, and Thomas E. Uebel. 1996. Otto Neurath: Philosophy between Science and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  Cat, Jordi: see C
artwright et al.

  Cavendish, Henry. [1766] 1921. "Boiling Point of Water." In Cavendish 1921, 351-354.

  ———. 1776. "An Account of the Meteorological Instruments Used at the Royal Society's House." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 66:375-401. Also reprinted in Cavendish 1921, 112-126.

  ———. 1783. "Observations on Mr. Hutchins's Experiments for Determining the Degree of Cold at Which Quicksilver Freezes." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 73:303-328.

  ———. 1786. "An Account of Experiments Made by John McNab, at Henley House, Hudson's Bay, Relating to Freezing Mixtures." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 76:241-272.