Atomic Heats of Copper, Silver, and Gold from 1°K to 5°K

Abstract

The atomic heats of copper, silver and gold have been determined in the temperature interval 1.0° to 5.0° K. The measured values can be described adequately by a linear plus a cubic term in temperature. Any deviations from this relationship are explainable in terms of inaccuracies in the presently accepted helium vapor pressure—temperature scale. In fact, it is shown that the temperature scale corrections, necessary to correct the data to the simple law given above, essentially agree with temperature scale corrections suggested by other work. Values of the coefficient of the linear term (electron heat capacity) and the Debye characteristic temperature have been derived and compared with several indirect determinations, as well as with other calorimetric data, where possible. The values of the electronic heat capacity determined in the work are consistently lower than those from previous work on copper and silver.