Disorder measurement: entropy changes of a rubber band¶
The relation between work, temperature, and entropy is explored by testing the amount of work required to stretch a rubber band at different temperatures. The temperature is controlled using a very thermally stable water jacket around the rubber band, and the work is found using a strain gauge and data logger.
Experiment in a nutshell¶
The goal of this experiment is to measure the entropy changes in a rubber band. To tackle this task, some guidance is as follows
- Know what you want to measure and plot. What are the axes of the plot? How are you going to record data, and how are you going to alter the independent variable?
- The data manipulation for this experiment is involved, so methodically stepping through each of the required data transformations to produce the desired plot as identified above is crucial.
- Using a programming language such as
Pythonrather thanExcelmay streamline some of the more complex data manipulation
This experiment is capable of producing clean results consistent with the second law of thermodynamics (yay!) but care and attention should be paid to ensure that the calculated quantities are indeed those which you expect.
Additional resources¶
Last update:
August 29, 2023