The Specific Heat of Crystalline Selenium at Low Temperatures

Abstract

Studies on the low temperature specific heat of crystalline selenium have been extended down to 15°K. The data are compared with a calculation based on a one‐dimensional‐continuum model with which good agreement is shown to exist down to about 37°K. Below this temperature, deviations are described in terms of an anisotropic continuum which considers the ``interaction'' between atom chains. The values of the thermodynamic functions, entropy, enthalpy, and free energy have been evaluated and tabulated at regular integral values of temperature up to 300°K. The entropy of crystalline selenium at 298.16°K is 10.15±0.05 cal/g‐atom/deg, of which 0.22 was obtained by extrapolating below 15°K. For this extrapolation, the anisotropic‐continuum model was used.