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An industrial platinum resistance thermometer is a platinum resistance thermometer built for practical measurement conditions. The label Pt100 specifies a nominal reference electrical resistance, not an SPRT, a calibration certificate, or a universal accuracy. Calibrate the probe together with its readout when the desired result is the performance of the complete indicating system.

A 1998 NIST account describes stirred comparison baths, a reference SPRT with a 30 Hz resistance bridge, and a temperature-controlled $100\Omega$ reference resistor. The test IPRTs used a $1\mathrm{mA}$ current source, a scanner, and an 8½-digit voltmeter. Separate current and voltage leads made each test probe a four-terminal device; readings in both current directions supplied voltage ratios to the reference resistor.^[ref]

Its program bracketed test readings with reference SPRT readings and repeated a block if bath drift was excessive. A check SPRT monitored the system; reference water-triple point measurements checked stability. Sensor depths were matched, and unfamiliar probes underwent immersion tests. Ice and water-triple point readings before and after calibration checked changes. Additional points could test the fitted curve. Reported calibration uncertainties excluded transport, subsequent drift, hysteresis, and the user's measurement system. These are controls and limits of that documented apparatus, not an accuracy promise for all platinum resistance thermometers.^[ref]

The inference is a pair: reference temperature from the SPRT, test electrical resistance from the electrical readout. Record measuring electric current, wiring, immersion, and the stated reference scale with each pair. A bath controller's setpoint is not itself the calibrated reference temperature. Returning to a reference and checking intermediate points distinguishes a fitted relation from a reproducible calibration over the intended interval.

Choose the illustrative local modelHere $t$ is the Celsius temperature, measured relative to $0{}^{\circ }\mathrm{C}$, so $\alpha t$ is dimensionless. For this chosen affine function, the derivative and inverse relation areCalculated values are $R(0{}^{\circ }\mathrm{C})=100\Omega$, $R(20{}^{\circ }\mathrm{C})=107.70\Omega$, $R(25{}^{\circ }\mathrm{C})=109.625\Omega$, and $R(50{}^{\circ }\mathrm{C})=119.25\Omega$. These are model outputs, not measurements or an assertion that any real Pt100 follows this line exactly. The number $0.00385$ here is the chosen slope parameter; it is not a universal local derivative for all platinum resistance thermometers. Curvature, manufacturing differences, and the fitted calibration interval matter. A wider-range calibration uses a validated response curve rather than extrapolating this line indefinitely.

For a separate synthetic thermometer calibration, stipulate $R_a=100.20\Omega$ at $t_a=0{}^{\circ }\mathrm{C}$ and $R_b=119.60\Omega$ at $t_b=50{}^{\circ }\mathrm{C}$. A two-point affine function has slope $0.388\Omega /{}^{\circ }\mathrm{C}$ and givesThus $R=109.90\Omega$ would indicate $25{}^{\circ }\mathrm{C}$. If an additional synthetic check at reference $25{}^{\circ }\mathrm{C}$ instead supplied $110.10\Omega$, the line would indicate $25.515\dots {}^{\circ }\mathrm{C}$. The $0.20\Omega$ residual exposes disagreement that two fitted points cannot reveal. This separate example changes both offset and slope; it is not a replacement specification for the nominal Pt100 local linear model.

A concrete experiment turns the phase coexistence curve into pairs of temperature and saturation pressure. A 1969 paper reports water measurements made in 1942 and 1947–1949 using a boiler and precision mercury manometer. Platinum resistance thermometers read the boiler temperature through a resistance bridge. The pressure-transfer line passed through an ice-water condenser and a dry-ice trap; helium filled connecting sections. Corrected mercury column height gave the pressure at the thermometer coils, including hydrostatic pressure contributions from water vapor, helium, mercury, and mercury vapor.^[ref]

Controls included normal/reversed-lead readings, readings at two thermometer electric currents extrapolated to zero current to remove self-heating, repeated bridge calibration, and daily triple point thermometer calibration checks. Cellar temperature measurements corrected fluid-column and gauge-block thermal expansion. One measurement series was excluded because a trapped gas bubble was suspected of corrupting the mercury head. The paper adjusted measurements to round temperatures using previously tabulated slopes; those adjusted values therefore are not independent measurements of those slopes.^[ref]

The thermodynamic inference requires liquid and gas in phase coexistence, a well-defined common temperature, and a pressure corrected to that same location. Leaks, contamination, or a temperature gradient can spoil that interpretation. A separate calorimetry measurement of latent heat, together with the two specific volumes, allows a test of the full Clapeyron equation. Converting a measured phase coexistence curve slope directly into latent heat instead assumes that equation; it is not an independent test.