“Absolute Zero” - Baltimore Polytechnic Institute



“Absolute Zero”

Answer the following questions as you watch the NOVA video “Absolute Zero”. If you miss one of the answers, a transcript of the program is available at:

These questions will also be posted on the course homework page at bpi.edu.

1. How did the chemist Robert Boyle test the prevailing hypothesis that cold is a substance that objects absorb when the cool off and expel when they warm up? What was the result of Boyle’s experiment?

2. What was strange about the original temperature scale devised by Celsius?

3. Whose work investigating the pressure vs. temperature relationship in gasses led to the notion that there was a minimum possible temperature?

4. Guillaume Amontons believed that the hotness of objects was due to the motion of their particles, but Antoine Lavoisier thought that heat was a fluid substance. What was the name of this fluid?

5. What was the result of Count Rumford’s investigation of the heat created while boring out a cannon barrel? Did he believe that Lavosier’s caloric theory provided a suitable explanation?

6. What was a major export for New England during the late 1800’s?

7. James Joule measured a small increase of temperature in vats of water stirred by paddles, thus establishing the equivalence of mechanical energy and heat. Why did he happen to have the extremely precise thermometers needed for this measurement?

8. Why were nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen called “permanent gasses”?

9. What two scientists competed with one another to be the first to liquefy Hydrogen (and later helium)?

10. What happens to the electrical resistance of mercury if it is cooled to 4 degrees above absolute zero? What is the name of this phenomenon?

11. Name at least three useful technologies that have resulted from our understanding of cold and heat.

Bonus Question:

Who is the current Secretary of Energy in President Obama’s cabinet? What important contribution did he make to the hunt for Absolute Zero? What prize did he win for this development?

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