9452604 Cotts A differential scanning calorimeter system will be used in undergraduate laboratories primarily at the sophomore, junior and senior level and in summer independent research projects in the Physics Department at SUNY-Binghamton. The instrument will be utilized in a series of laboratory experiments designed to illuminate the subject of Thermal Physics for physics and pre- engineering majors. The differential scanning calorimeter will allow the introduction of a wide variety of experiments, at a number of different levels. The experiments will range from those with a high level of direction and firmly established procedure, to those which attempt to generate original contributions in current research topics in Physics. The experiments include measurements of phase transitions in materials (including melting, lambda transitions, and impurity freezing point depression), the heat capacity of solids, and solid state reaction kinetics and energetics. Additional experiments involve the study, in the context of Thermal Physics, of the operation of the calorimeter.
