Frederick Thomas Trouton
| Frederick Thomas Trouton | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
November 24, 1863 Dublin |
| Died | September 21, 1922 (aged 58) Downe |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Dublin |
| Known for |
Trouton's rule Trouton–Rankine experiment Trouton–Noble experiment |
| Notable awards | Fellow of the Royal Society |
Frederick Thomas Trouton FRS (24 November 1863 – 21 September 1922) was an Irish physicist known for Trouton's Rule and experiments to detect the Earth's motion through the luminiferous aether.
Trouton was born in Dublin on 24 November 1863, the youngest son of the wealthy and prominent Thomas Trouton. He attended Royal School Dungannon and went on to Trinity College, Dublin in 1884, where he studied engineering and physical science. While still an undergraduate student, Trouton observed a relationship between boiling points and energies of vaporizations, which he presented in two short papers. He found the change of entropy per mole for vaporisation at a boiling point is constant, or expressed mathematically ΔSm,vap = 10.5 R (where R is the ideal gas constant). This became known as Trouton's Rule and, despite having some exceptions, is used to estimate the enthalpy of vaporization of liquids whose boiling points are known. Trouton himself belittled his discovery as it was merely the result of an afternoon's manipulation of data from a book of tables. Before graduating he also took a leading role in surveying for a railway.
Trouton graduated Master of Arts and Doctor of Science in 1884, and was immediately appointed assistant to the professor of experimental physics, George FitzGerald. They collaborated on many experiments and became good friends; FitzGerald's influence can be seen in a lot of Trouton's earlier work.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in June 1897. His application citation read: "Discovered the law connecting the extent head of vaporisation and molecular weights of bodies known as "Trouton's law" and experimentally determined the directions of vibration of electric and inaquatic force in plane polarised light. He has made other important observations on the phase of secondary waves and on the influence of the size of the reflector in Hertz's equipment."
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