Chapter 5: Calorimetric Determination of Enthalpies of Vaporization¹

A review of calorimeters and experimental procedures used for the measurement of enthalpies of vaporization for pure liquids is presented. The calorimetric approaches that are illustrated give an insight into direct determination of enthalpies of vaporization starting from the very first steps in the mid-19th century to modern techniques that allow measurements on a few milligrams of material or even less. In the most accurate techniques, home-made instruments or commercial calorimeters, mostly of the Calvet type, are used. The current focus in instrument development involves fast, though less accurate, power-compensation differential scanning calorimeters.