Estimates of the difference between thermodynamic temperature and the International Temperature Scale of 1990 in the range 118 K to 303 K

Abstract

Using exceptionally accurate measurements of the speed of sound in argon, we have made estimates of the difference between thermodynamic temperature, T, and the temperature estimated using the International Temperature Scale of 1990, T90, in the range 118K to 303 K. Thermodynamic temperature was estimated using the technique of relative primary acoustic thermometry in the NPL-Cranfield combined microwave and acoustic resonator. Our values of (T - T90) agree well with most recent estimates, but because we have taken data at closely spaced temperature intervals, the data reveal previously unseen detail. Most strikingly, we see undulations in (T - T90) below 273.16 K, and the discontinuity in the slope of (T - T90) at 273.16K appears to have the opposite sign to that previously reported.