General law concerning the behavior of solid bodies at very low temperatures

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1912
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 67 KB
• Volume: 173
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0016-0032
• DOI: 10.1016/s0016-0032(12)90497-4

✦ Synopsis

General Law Concerning the Behavior of Solid Bodies at Very Low Temperatures. W. NERNST. (Physik. Zeit., xii, 976.) --Recent investigations of specific heats, in accordance with the requirements of the theory of energy units, made it certain that for every solid body there is a certain range of temperature from absolute zero upwards in which the conception of temperature practically loses its signifitance. Within this range every property which is determined by the mean behavior of the atom must be independent of the temperature. This rule may be considered firmly established in the cases of the following properties : volume, specific heat, thermal coefficient of expansion, compressibility, and the free energy and total energy changes of a reaction. The opinion is expressed (but with some reserve, because strong proof is yet wanting) that the thermal condition of metals is finite and independent of temperature for a certain range above absolute zero, and that thermo-electric force and the Peltier effect approach zero as the temperature approaches absolute zero.