Inventing Temperature: Measurement and Scientific ProgressOxford University Press, 2004 M08 5 - 304 pages What is temperature, and how can we measure it correctly? These may seem like simple questions, but the most renowned scientists struggled with them throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. In Inventing Temperature, Chang examines how scientists first created thermometers; how they measured temperature beyond the reach of standard thermometers; and how they managed to assess the reliability and accuracy of these instruments without a circular reliance on the instruments themselves. In a discussion that brings together the history of science with the philosophy of science, Chang presents the simple eet challenging epistemic and technical questions about these instruments, and the complex web of abstract philosophical issues surrounding them. Chang's book shows that many items of knowledge that we take for granted now are in fact spectacular achievements, obtained only after a great deal of innovative thinking, painstaking experiments, bold conjectures, and controversy. Lurking behind these achievements are some very important philosophical questions about how and when people accept the authority of science. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 90
Page xi
... Water Refuses to Boil at the Boiling Point 8 Blood, Butter, and Deep Cellars: The Necessity and Scarcity of Fixed Points 8 The Vexatious Variations of the Boiling Point 11 Superheating and the Mirage of True Ebullition 17 Escape from ...
... Water Refuses to Boil at the Boiling Point 8 Blood, Butter, and Deep Cellars: The Necessity and Scarcity of Fixed Points 8 The Vexatious Variations of the Boiling Point 11 Superheating and the Mirage of True Ebullition 17 Escape from ...
Page xvii
... points as fixed points of thermometry Fahrenheit: mercury thermometer First Russian ... point of mercury Lavoisier: Traite ́ e ́le ́mentaire de chimie Onset of the ... water 1801 1802 1807 1808 1815 c. 1820 1820 1824 1827 xvii Chronology.
... points as fixed points of thermometry Fahrenheit: mercury thermometer First Russian ... point of mercury Lavoisier: Traite ́ e ́le ́mentaire de chimie Onset of the ... water 1801 1802 1807 1808 1815 c. 1820 1820 1824 1827 xvii Chronology.
Page 4
... water boiled or ice melted always at the same temperature, so that those phenomena could be used as ''fixed points ... point out deep philosophical questions and serious technical challenges lurking behind very elementary results. I will ...
... water boiled or ice melted always at the same temperature, so that those phenomena could be used as ''fixed points ... point out deep philosophical questions and serious technical challenges lurking behind very elementary results. I will ...
Page 8
Measurement and Scientific Progress Hasok Chang. 1. Keeping. the. Fixed. Points. Fixed. Narrative: What to Do When Water Refuses to Boil at the Boiling Point The excess of the heat of water above the boiling point is influenced by a great ...
Measurement and Scientific Progress Hasok Chang. 1. Keeping. the. Fixed. Points. Fixed. Narrative: What to Do When Water Refuses to Boil at the Boiling Point The excess of the heat of water above the boiling point is influenced by a great ...
Page 9
... point of alcohol (''spirit of wine'') as a fixed point, having seen how the alcohol in his thermometer always came ... water and aniseed oil, either of which he thought was ''not so justly determinable, but with a considerable latitude.'' In ...
... point of alcohol (''spirit of wine'') as a fixed point, having seen how the alcohol in his thermometer always came ... water and aniseed oil, either of which he thought was ''not so justly determinable, but with a considerable latitude.'' In ...
Contents
3 | |
8 | |
2 Spirit Air and Quicksilver | 57 |
3 To Go Beyond | 103 |
4 Theory Measurement and Absolute Temperature | 159 |
5 Measurement Justification and Scientific Progress | 220 |
6 Complementary ScienceHistory and Philosophy of Science as a Continuation of Science by Other Means | 235 |
Glossary of Scientific Historical and Philosophical Terms | 251 |
Bibliography | 259 |
Index | 275 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
absolute temperature abstract actual air thermometer Aitken alcohol thermometer Amontons amount of heat assumption boiling point boiling water Bridgman caloric theory Carnot cycle Cavendish century chapter coherentism cold complementary science concept of temperature concrete cooling correct definition discussion domain empirical epistemic iteration epistemic virtues expansion experimental experiments Fahrenheit fixed points fixity free caloric freezing point function gas thermometers gases Guyton Hau¨y heat engine idea ideal gas initial Irvinist Joule Joule-Thomson justification Laplace latent heat liquid Luc’s meaning measurement melting point mercury thermometer method of mixtures molecules numerical observations ontological principles operationalization operations perature philosophical physics platinum point of mercury point of water pressure problem pyrometer pyrometry quantity question Re´aumur reasons Regnault Royal Society committee scale scientists specific heat standard steam point supercooling superheating theoretical theory of heat thermal thermodynamic thermom thermometry thermoscope Thomson values vapor Wedgwood Wedgwood pyrometer zero