Researchers at NIST have for the first time used an apparatus that relies on the noise of jiggling electrons to make highly accurate measurements of the Boltzmann constant. The technique is simpler and more compact than other methods for measuring the constant and could advance international efforts to revamp the world’s scientific measurement system.The Boltzmann constant relates energy to temperature for individual particles such as atoms. The accepted value of this constant is based mainly on a 1988 NIST measurement performed using acoustic gas thermometry, with a relative standard uncertainty of less than 2 parts per million (ppm). To assure that the Boltzmann constant can be determined accurately around the world, scientists have been trying to develop different methods that can reproduce this value with comparable uncertainty.Learn more from NIST.
NIST 'Noise Thermometry' System Measures Boltzmann Constant
