Hi
Thought I'd continue here as it's connected with the previous thread of mine
Yes, the idea is quite sound - if not a wee bit presumptious in the naming ! It's just a calorimeter after all - I'm sure Mr Lavoisier or Mr LaPlace would have something to say about the naming convention LOL
To make it worldly wide, it would be useful to find a common oil that would suit - I'm unsure what 'Wesson' oil is - canola/rapeseed/groundnut ? I'm supposing that all oils of the same genre don't have the same physical properties - I'm no chemist, but would assume not? (does it even matter?)
I'm all for ballpark measurement - or some kind of sanity measurement - let's stick with SI units for worldwide sanity 'though - we can at least sing from the same hymnbook with them - I had to wonder what a 'tbl' was until I was told it was a 'tablespoon' measurement commonly used in cookery
It really would be good to find a worldwide 'standard' oil (don't suppose a McDonald's hamburger would work
) - I'm wondering if '3-in-1' lubricating oil is sufficiently common - even if it would be suitable?
The styro cups are more than likely ok - weighing is probably best, but volume is probably cheapest. You could of course make a styro container to a specific size, but no point in getting anal over what is essentially an uncalibrated measurement (maybe a McDonalds cup - but they're probably bigger in the US
)
Distance from the lens is an issue as we have varying focal lengths - perhaps 2X focal length?
Digital thermometers are a non-issue, you can pick them up for peanuts. Depending on the range, even medical ones can be had for the equivalent of a US dollar!
So, all you need to find is that common oil and the correct weight/volume for a 1 deg/W change and you're sorted
(apart from all the other variables like temp, barometric pressure ... - but it's only a sanity check, not a golden ruler
)
It would be really cheap and simple to lash up a small picaxe microcontroller controller with a temp sensor and small lcd display that could do all the calcs for you.
Certainly worth carrying on with and a good 'poor man's' method!
Cheers
Neil