Bottom-quark jet tagging 2026-10-24
Bottom-quark tagging identifies jets compatible with a bottom hadron, often through displaced tracks, a secondary decay vertex or a lepton within the jet. The finite hadron lifetime gives the displacement. Efficiencies and mistaken tags from charm or light jets must be calibrated; a top quark itself decays before hadronization.
Calorimeter 2026-10-14
A calorimeter infers transferred heat from a measured change, such as a temperature change and a calibrated heat capacity. The heat-engine calorimetry example requires accounting for the vessel and heat transfer to the surroundings as well as the water.
A practical receiver has an inner vessel, insulation or an outer shield, a lid, a thermometer and a stirrer. Its participating heat capacity includes the immersed parts that follow the water's temperature. Insulation reduces heat transfer to the room; stirring makes a single reading more representative of the contents. These serve different purposes: a well-insulated vessel can still have substantial heat capacity, and a uniform temperature does not imply zero external heat transfer.
The University of Toronto's Heat Capacity (University of Toronto laboratory handout) describes a copper inner vessel, outer shield, thermometer and heated metal block. Weigh the block and receiving water, heat the block in a bath, then transfer it quickly into enough water to cover it. The observed temperature rises, reaches a maximum, then falls. The inferred specific heat capacity comes from the block's cooling and the warming of both water and vessel. In its cooling exercise the handout deliberately exposes the inner vessel to room air, recommends readings every , and uses the later common cooling to estimate the earlier loss. Starting below room temperature reduces exchange without guaranteeing cancellation. The handout notes limited time and thermometry for small corrections; it supplies no dataset.[ref]
Heat Capacity (University of Toronto laboratory handout). pp. 1–3, The Method of Mixtures and Cooling Correction, Figure 1
For a proposed modern version, independently perform thermometer calibration and calorimeter calibration, record bath and room temperatures, and keep immersion depth, lid position and stirring rate fixed. Ensure the block actually reaches bath temperature; minimize and account for adhering hot bath water. Compare repeated transfers with different delays and a reference sample of known specific heat capacity. A resting run tests environmental heat transfer, while a stirred run with no added sample checks mechanical input. These are proposed controls, not claimed observations from the handout. Sensor delay, changing heat capacity, incomplete thermal equilibrium and material escaping the boundary limit the resulting estimate.
Calorimeter addenda 2026-10-18
Calorimeter addenda are the participating heat capacity of everything in the measured thermal assembly except the sample: platform, heater, thermometer, mounting material and the effective part of the leads. They depend on temperature and assembly details. Calorimeter calibration can determine them using an empty platform or a reference sample. Subtract from the loaded assembly at matching temperature and applied magnetic field; replacing it with a constant can imitate a sample anomaly.
Calorimetry 2026-10-14
Calorimetry measures heat transfers. A calorimeter, a calibrated heat capacity and an accounting of unwanted heat transfer connect an observed temperature change to an energy balance, as in heat-engine calorimetry and heat-pump calorimetry.
The central idea is to measure a response that is easier to observe than the transfer itself: a known heat capacity turns a temperature change into an energy estimate. Mixing calorimetry can determine an unknown specific heat capacity, while a chemical reaction can be studied by measuring the response of its surroundings. The useful observable is a change in temperature, together with a stated thermodynamic system boundary; a hot object does not contain a separately conserved store of heat.
For a closed system with unchanged bulk kinetic energy and potential energy, let be net inward heat and net inward work. The first law of thermodynamics givesIf the boundary includes a hot sample, receiving water and the participating vessel, their mutual heat transfer is internal. With no external input, the total storage change is minus the signed outward heat leakage, not the positive amount transferred from sample to water. A calorimeter calibration with an immersed resistor instead supplies electrical work across this boundary; Joule heating converts it into internal energy. Choosing only the receiving water as the boundary changes which transfers count as external.
The mechanical constraint decides which storage quantity the readout represents. For a closed system at fixed volume, with no other work, . At constant external pressure, with only expansion work , , where is enthalpy. Thus the corresponding warming balances use heat capacity at constant volume or heat capacity at constant pressure. Electrical or shaft work must be included separately when present. These endpoint balances do not require the actual exchange to be a reversible thermodynamic process.
A covered cup open to atmospheric pressure approximately realizes the second constraint when escaping material is negligible. A sealed rigid reaction vessel realizes the first; its surrounding water, vessel and immersed parts form the calibrated receiver. The reaction's outward heat equals the receiver's gain only after losses and ignition input have been accounted for. The distinction concerns the reaction boundary, even if its receiver is open to atmospheric pressure.[ref]
A historical quantitative result appears in James Prescott Joule's On the Mechanical Equivalent of Heat (1850): Table IX gives foot-pounds of mechanical work per warming of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit, with weighing reduced to vacuum. His final rounded statement specifies water between and degrees Fahrenheit. He acknowledged residual vibration and sound as possible upward bias. This is an original reported conversion result, not the definition of the modern joule; the apparatus and resting controls are described in Joule's paddle-wheel experiment.[ref]
On the Mechanical Equivalent of Heat by James Prescott Joule. p. 82, Table IX and concluding paragraphs: water-series equivalent and residual losses
Electrical calorimetry of a resistor 2026-10-14
An electrical calorimetry experiment asks whether a measured electrical work input accounts for a measured warming. The University of Iowa's demonstration uses an insulated flask containing water, an immersed heater, a thermometer, electrical meters and a timer. Its procedure compares the duration, electrical readings and temperature rise. The following low-power measurement design and synthetic readout develop that idea; they are not measurements reported by the demonstration. [ref]
5F15.10 - Electrical Equivalent of Heat by University of Iowa Department of Physics and Astronomy. Equipment and Procedure: insulated flask, immersed heater, thermometry, electrical meters and timed warming
Use a covered calorimeter with weighed water, an immersed resistor, a calibrated thermometer and gentle stirring. Put an ammeter in series with the heater branch and a high-input-electrical resistance voltmeter across the immersed resistor's terminals. Record , , temperature and room temperature before, during and after switching the heater on. Measure the electric potential difference at the heater, rather than at the supply: lead and contact electrical resistance outside the receiving boundary can consume power that never reaches the water. Account for voltmeter loading if the ammeter also includes the sensing branch's electric current.[ref]
The electrical readout gives operating electrical resistance when , and power . To test Ohm's law, obtain several pairs at the same temperature; one ratio alone cannot establish a linear response. For small electrical resistance, use four-terminal sensing to exclude lead drops and reverse electric current to test stable offsets from the thermoelectric effect. Use brief low-power resistance measurements if the intended result is the unheated value: the test itself causes Joule heating.
For a covered assembly at approximately constant pressure, with negligible evaporation, negligible endpoint mechanical energy changes and no phase transition, takeHere is the water's specific heat capacity at constant pressure, is the participating vessel, heater and sensor heat capacity, is signed outward heat leakage, and is stirring work entering the assembly. The storage term approximates its enthalpy change; for a rigid fixed-volume receiver use the corresponding heat capacity at constant volume. Calibrate independently if the purpose is to test electrical input against thermal storage. Using the same heating run to define and then claiming it verifies the equality would be circular.
For the synthetic trace, stipulate , , , , room temperature , and loss coefficient , with negligible stirring input. The heater runs for , beginning at room temperature. The calorimeter heat-loss correction model isIt predicts , , storage and outward loss . Neglecting leakage undercounts deposited energy by about ; assuming no loss predicts . After switching off, the excess temperature undergoes exponential decay with time constant . A cooling slope can estimate only with known and a credible single-temperature model.
Controls separate causes of a temperature rise. Check the electrical meters' zeros and thermometer calibration; keep water mass, immersion, lid and stirring fixed between runs. Record a heater-off stirred baseline to estimate sensor drift and stirring input. Repeat cooling runs over the same temperature range to estimate environmental heat transfer; a baseline taken only at room temperature cannot measure warming-dependent leakage. Vary electric current while keeping and initial thermal conditions comparable: corrected deposited energy should scale as for equal durations. An independent calorimeter calibration or known reference heat capacity makes this a quantitative test rather than a qualitative observation.
Finite sensor response, incomplete thermal equilibrium, changing or heat capacity, evaporation, and imperfect loss corrections limit the inference. A final temperature alone cannot distinguish smaller electrical input from larger heat leakage or a larger participating heat capacity. Agreement tests the stated assembly and its energy accounting; it does not show that all electrical work in arbitrary devices becomes heat.
Historically, the Royal Society's archive description of James Prescott Joule's manuscript dated 13 October 1840 records a coil of wire in a jar of water, a thermometer and a galvanometer, and summarizes his inference that warming depends on electrical resistance and the square of electric current intensity. This electrical experiment precedes Joule's paddle-wheel experiment; the input here is electrical work, whereas the paddle supplies mechanical work. The catalogue, rather than the inaccessible manuscript images, supports this account. [ref]
Archive catalogue record AP-23-34: On the production of heat by voltaic electricity by The Royal Society Archives. Royal Society Archives, AP/23/34, Description and Date: apparatus, resistance dependence and duplicate-ratio conclusion; manuscript dated 13 October 1840
Hess's law calorimetry experiment 2026-10-18
A practical test compares three transformations involving sodium hydroxide: dissolution of the solid, neutralization of its chemical solution by hydrochloric acid, and reaction of the solid directly with hydrochloric acid. In the ideal compatible-state notation, the hydrogen ion and hydroxide giveThe hydroxide cancels, whereas the newly formed water remains. Sodium and chloride spectator ions must still be included in the full material inventory when matching actual chemical solutions.
The teaching protocol Calorimetry: Heat of Neutralization Reaction & Hess's Law, Procedure A–C, uses nested insulated cups, a cardboard lid and a thermometer. It mixes each of hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide chemical solutions; separately it adds solid sodium hydroxide to diluted hydrochloric acid, or to water. It records initial temperatures, stirs, reads temperature every , repeats runs, and extrapolates cooling trends to mixing time. Rapid weighing limits moisture uptake. The Introduction neglects vessel heat capacity and room losses; these are approximations, not a measured calibration. The readout tests whether the inferred enthalpies add, rather than directly measuring a state function.[ref]
Calorimetry: Heat of Neutralization Reaction & Hess's Law, Chemistry 151LL. Introduction; Procedure A.1–8, B.1–5 and C.1–6; Additional Data Treatment: cup approximation, preparation, repeat runs and mixing-time extrapolation
Matching the chemical equations alone is insufficient. The direct-acid recipe uses hydrochloric acid, whereas the solution-mixing recipe uses . The dissolution run also does not automatically reproduce the water inventory of the mixed-solution run. Exact closure requires matching initial and final chemical solution compositions and adding any necessary mixing or dilution enthalpies. Agreement after approximate corrections is a limited test, rather than proof of exact cancellation for those recipes.
To improve the calorimetry, use calorimeter calibration for the participating hardware, and estimate calorimeter heat-loss correction under comparable conditions. With an approximately constant total receiving heat capacity , common initial temperature, constant external pressure, only expansion work, negligible escaping material and negligible bulk kinetic energy and potential energy changes, the balance isHere is the chemical solution mass, its specific heat capacity at constant pressure, the hardware heat capacity, and the signed outward heat loss. Different initial temperatures require separate warming terms. Calorimeter calibration and matching chemical solution compositions address different errors.
For an original constructed model, choose and . Neglect outward heat loss and other corrections. The receiving chemical solution and hardware gain , so . If the completed extent of reaction is for a unit-coefficient chemical equation, the inferred reaction enthalpy per mole of that reaction isThese chosen numbers illustrate the signs and normalization; they are not measured sodium hydroxide data and are independent of the abstract example.
Stoichiometry cancels intermediate states; calorimetry converts warming into signed reaction enthalpy
. Left: original abstract chemical equations use to give and for one mole. Right: an independent chosen heat capacity model gives receiver gain and reaction change . Neither panel reports experimental measurements. Details.A loss of heat to the room makes the uncorrected warming underestimate the magnitude of a heat-releasing reaction. Incomplete dissolution, incomplete reaction, uncertain amount of substance, or a slow thermometer response can also spoil closure. A useful experimental residual is after all changes have been placed on the same amount and state basis. Compare with the measurement uncertainty, accounting for shared calibration errors; averaging repeated runs reduces scatter without removing a common bias.
Homogeneous calorimeter 2026-10-25
A homogeneous calorimeter uses its showering volume as the active medium, such as a scintillating crystal. It avoids absorber-versus-active sampling fluctuations, but still has signal statistics, intrinsic shower fluctuations, noise and calibration nonuniformity. Its constant and noise terms need not be smaller than those of a sampling calorimeter.
Place a far detector near the first atmospheric disappearance maximum, approximately for the source's monochromatic energy and splitting, and a nearly identical near detector a few hundred metres from the reactor complex. Their flux-corrected comparison largely cancels reactor power, emitted-spectrum and absolute-efficiency uncertainties. For a broad reactor spectrum one fits energy-dependent disappearance instead of treating that single baseline as a universal exact optimum.
Detect in a hydrogen-rich target, for example liquid scintillator with neutron-capture enhancement. The prompt Positron signal estimates neutrino energy; the delayed neutron-capture signal supplies a time-and-position coincidence that strongly reduces random backgrounds. Use sufficient target mass and exposure, low radioactivity, overburden and a muon veto to reduce cosmogenic backgrounds, calibrated relative energy response and efficiency, and monitored reactor powers and baselines. Account for multiple reactor cores, spent-fuel backgrounds and accidental coincidences. At kilometre baselines the slow solar phase is small, so the disappearance depth directly probes with little sensitivity to the CP phase or mass ordering.
For independent contributions the parametrization meansThe stochastic coefficient includes fluctuations in the sampled shower fraction, the finite number of signal quanta, and intrinsic shower fluctuations. A number of detected quanta proportional to has fluctuations proportional to , giving relative resolution proportional to . The noise coefficient describes an approximately fixed energy-equivalent readout uncertainty, including electronic noise and, for specified running conditions, Pile-up contributions. The constant term represents residual fractional nonuniformity, calibration and response variations, imperfect correction for inactive material, and leakage effects over the fitted range. The simple three-term model is an approximation; leakage and Pile-up need not follow these powers exactly.
A homogeneous calorimeter uses the showering material itself as the active medium, for example a scintillating crystal. It removes the absorber-versus-active sampling fluctuation and can have a much smaller stochastic term, but it does not eliminate signal statistics or intrinsic shower fluctuations. Its noise and constant terms are not automatically smaller: they depend on light collection, calibration, temperature, radiation damage, electronics and geometry. Homogeneous detectors can offer excellent energy resolution and compact construction, but large crystal volumes can be costly and fine longitudinal segmentation difficult. Sampling detectors often provide economical large coverage and flexible segmentation with robust absorbers, at the cost of sampling fluctuations and inactive material. If energy is expressed in GeV, has units , has units GeV and is dimensionless.

