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The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Unpublished paper, 'The specific heats of air and carbon dioxide. Details of the method of calibration of the potentiometer, with record of data' by W F G [William Francis Gray] Swann

Reference number: AP/78/5

Date: 1908

Description

Swann undertook an experiment in which a steady stream of gas was passed through a jacketed tube (the calorimeter proper), in which it was heated by a current of electricity passing through a platinum coil of 1 ohm resistance, the rise in temperature being measured by two 12-ohm platinum thermometers used differentially. In this paper he describes the method of calibration of the potentiometer used and presents experimental data.

Annotations in pencil and ink throughout. Note on front reads 'Not to be printed, to be preserved in the archives of the Royal Society.' Includes five plates of diagrams of experimental apparatus.

Subject: Chemistry / Thermodynamics

Received 8 October 1908. Communicated by H L [Hugh Longbourne] Callendar.

An associated paper was published in volume 210 of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A as 'On the specific heats of air and carbon dioxide at atmospheric pressure by the continuous electric method at 20˚ C. and 100˚ C'.

Reference number
AP/78/5
Earliest possible date
1908
Physical description
Ink and graphite pencil on paper
Page extent
93 pages
Format
Typescript
Manuscript
Diagram

Creator name

William Francis Gray Swann

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Citation

William Francis Gray Swann, Unpublished paper, 'The specific heats of air and carbon dioxide. Details of the method of calibration of the potentiometer, with record of data' by W F G [William Francis Gray] Swann, 1908, AP/78/5, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_78_5/unpublished-paper-the-specific-heats-of-air-and-carbon-dioxide-details-of-the-method-of-calibration-of-the-potentiometer-with-record-of-data-by-w-f-g-william-francis-gray-swann, accessed on 23 April 2025

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  • Archived Papers

    The 'Archived Papers' collection is comprised of original manuscript scientific papers and letters submitted to the Royal Society which remained unpublished or were abstracted in the journal 'Proceedings of the Royal Society' published from 1830 onwards.

    Dates: 1768 - 1989

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