Abstract
A NEW value for the gas constant, R0, has been obtained from measurements of the velocity of sound, c, in argon at the temperature of the triple point of water. Velocity measurements were made using a low frequency variable-path acoustic interferometer, operating at a frequency of 5.6 kHz (ref. 1). Ninety eight independent measurements of sound velocity were made over a range of pressures from 0.3–2.0 atm. A quadratic least squares fit was made of c2 against pressure, and the resulting acoustic isotherm was extrapolated to zero pressure to yield a value for c02, the velocity in the limit of low pressures. The gas constant was then obtained from the relationship c20 = γR0T/M where γ=5/3, T=273.16 K, M=39.9478 g mol−1 and c02 was the experimentally determined value of 94,768.9±2.1 m2 s−2. The uncertainty quoted for c02 is the standard error on the intercept of the acoustic isotherm.
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Quinn, T. J. A., Atomic masses and fundamental constants 4: proceedings of the international conference, National Physical Laboratory 1971 (edit. by Sanders, J. H., and Wapstra, A. H.), 529–33 (Plenum Press, London, 1972).
Cohen, E. R., and Taylor, B. N., Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data, 2, 566 (1973).
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QUINN, T., CHANDLER, T. & COLCLOUGH, A. Determination of the gas constant by an acoustical method. Nature 250, 218 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/250218a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/250218a0
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