A Thermal Method of Measuring the Vapour Pressure of an Aqueous Solution

A. V. Hill
1930 Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences  
1) The total heat of neutralisation of most of the usual acids and bases (strong and weak) is liberated within a period of less than 0*01 second. (2) The reactions of carbonic acid with alkali, and of bicarbonate with acid, however, involve heat changes which under appropriate conditions arc spread out over periods of considerably more than 0-01 second. The buffering reactions of glycine and the blood proteins were also studied in a preliminary manner, on account of the physiological interest
more » ... these pro cesses. In all cases it was found that the heat changes of the reaction were completed (or almost completed) within 0-014 second, as shown by the agree ment between the temperature changes observed to have occurred within 0-014 second and the total temperature changes calculated from the heat of the reaction, as measured by other observers. The physiological and physico chemical implication of these results is discussed. A single experiment on the reaction between carbon monoxide and haemo globin showed that the heat accompanying this reaction was spread out over a period of 0 • 05 second. Further applications of the method are foreshadowed, if and when success has been obtained in extending the accuracy of the temperature measurements from its present limit of 0-001° C. to a further place of decimals, viz., 0-0001° C. (Abstract.) A thermoelectric method is described by which the difference of vapour pressure between two solutions, or between a solution and the pure solvent, can be measured. The principle involved is simply that of a differential wet-bulb thermometer of high sensitivity. A reading is obtained in 30 to 45 minutes and the average error of a single observation is of the order of If per cent, of the difference read.
doi:10.1098/rspb.1930.0026 fatcat:5fokn3wnvvddfpcqrivqqtlppq