A calorimeter is a scientific instrument used to measure the heat generated or absorbed in a chemical reaction or physical process. We owe the invention of this device to an observation made just before the turn of the nineteenth century by the preeminent scientist Benjamin Thompson ( Count Rumford). While supervising the construction of cannons, Rumford noticed that as the fire chamber was bored out, the metal cannons would heat up. He observed that the more work the drill exerted in the boring process, the greater the temperature increase. To measure the amount of heat generated by this process, Count Rumford placed the warm cannon into a tub of water and measured the increase in the water's temperature. In doing so, he simultaneously invented the science of calorimetry and the first primitive calorimeter. In simplest terms, a modern calorimeter is a water-filled insulated chamber. When a hot object is...