Determination of the thermodynamic temperature between 236 K and 430 K from speed of sound measurements in helium

Abstract

Abstract We report speed of sound measurements in helium at 273.16 K and at eight temperatures in the range between 236 K and 430 K. These results determine the difference (T  −  T 90) between the thermodynamic temperature T and its approximation T 90 by the International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS-90). The uncertainty of our measurements of (T  −  T 90) spans between a minimum of 0.25 mK near 247 K and a maximum of 0.89 mK at the freezing point of indium (429.75 K) with comparable contributions from the uncertainty of our acoustic determination of T and from the uncertainty of our laboratory realization of ITS-90. On the overlapping temperature ranges these results are consistent with other recent acoustic determinations of (T  −  T 90). We also present evidence that (T  −  T 90) can be determined with comparably small uncertainties by the alternative, time-saving procedure of measuring the speed-of-sound in helium using only a single, judiciously-chosen, pressure on each isotherm.