Low-cost differential scanning calorimeter

We present a simple and inexpensive calorimetric system that has been implemented in the undergraduate students laboratory of thermodynamics at the Physics Faculty of the University of Barcelona. It is shown that, after proper calibration, the system enables measurement of the relevant thermodynamic quantities at a first-order phase transition. As an example, the solid-liquid phase transition of water can be studied: Students find that both the change in specific heat and the latent heat (and its temperature dependence) coincide within the experimental scatter with the values given in the literature. (C) 1996 American Association of Physics Teachers.