Liquid expansion thermometer and microcalorimeter
AssigneeMassachusetts Institute of Technology
InventorsIan Warwick Hunter, Robert David
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Abstract
A calorimeter is provided for measuring a quantity of heat. The calorimeter has a liquid constrained so as to allow expansion of the liquid solely in one dimension along a single axis such that liquid expansion may be measured on the basis of light impinging along the single axis of liquid expansion by means of a non-contact displacement transducer. Interferometric optical means for remote measurement of multiple microcalorimeters permits parallel monitoring of multiple chemical reactions and the performance of parallel biochemical assays.
Claims5
A method for monitoring heat evolved in a chemical reaction, the method comprising:
- a. constraining a liquid in a capillary providing a liquid expansion calorimeter, having a liquid therein;
- b. conducting heat from the chemical reaction to the liquid expansion calorimeter;
- and
- c. interferometrically measuring the displacement of a surface of the liquid in the capillary and inferring therefrom the heat evolved in the chemical reaction.
A method for monitoring an array of parallel biochemical assays, the method comprising:
- a. constraining a liquid associated with each biochemical assay within a volume including a capillary segment,
- b. interferometrically measuring a change in optical pathlength to a surface of the liquid;
- and
- c. correlating the change in optical pathlength to the surface of the liquid with a thermodynamic variable selected from the group of heat, temperature, volume, and pressure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.