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Regnault's Method
Regnault's Method
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T H E PHYSICAL S O C I E T Y
OF L O N D O N ,
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JULY
188%.
IX. Rcgnault’s Determination of the Spec$c Ileut of X t r u ~ , ~ .
By J. &fACFAItLANE GRAY+.
IlEGNhULT’S experiments on the specific heat of‘ vapours havr!
Imri iiiterprcted by Regnault as giving results not at :~11
in accordance with tho deduction from the kinetic theory
of gam, that, for matter travelling in single moleculos,
the product of the molecular weight by the specific heat is
:L constant for all substanccs. I have been led, by considor-
i tig tlic order of‘ teiiipcrature-pi.essures for steam, t o conclude
that the above deduction is true for stcam; and I have no doubt,
nlso for all inattcr travelling in binfile molecules. When, in
1880, I laid my conclusions before the Physical Society :is
being corroborated by Rcgnault’s dynamicd esperinients, it
was objected that Ilcgnault’s direct thermal cxpei-imcnts gave
results widcly different from my conclusions ; and the report
on my paper was that that difference provcd that, in the cor-
roborations I had pointed out, I had been led away by mcrely
numerical coincidence.
I will now show that Rcgnault’s thermal experiments have
Imxi inisinterpreted by Ilegn:LuIt himself, and that he ouglit to
have m:td tlic specific heat of s t e m , according to his e s p r i -
*38ri), the result is -389; this, on 0 t h grounds, I h l' 'l e v ( ' tc,
1)c: iie:trly corrcck. If, lion.ever, ncglccting the other g i ~ c ) i i i i ~ I ~
I'or 1 i i y ol)inion, we takc the mcnn of the m x n s of' the tLirxI
:incl tlic fourth series, wc g e t
~3721
~-
+ -3853 -
- ,3787,
2
Tliis is what R r p d t , might fairly have done.
If we iiow c:ilculate what Regnault's experiments wonlti
give :is tho kinetic-theory result, we Act tlie specific 1ic:it of
ligtlrogon, :it page 121, U mean = 3.4090 ;" :ind taking tlic
iiiolecular weight of steam = 17*9G, we find the specific he:d
of stearn
2
3.409 x -==3i96.
17.Y6
Tliat is to say, the kinvtic theory and the thermal determinn-
tion give :illnoit itlcntically the snmc nuniber.
Tliis is, I bclicvc, the first experimental proof that the 1:iv
of in\.ersely as the molecuhr weights " applies to compound
gases.