Inverse Temperature (1000/K)

Hi All,

I am reading ahead for a microfab class I am taking in January and I've noticed alot of the literature publishes graphs that characterize a given phenomenon as a dependency on temperature and thus the x-axis is scaled in inverse temperature like 1000/K (K^-1). In some cases the top of the graph is scaled in ascending Celsius to assist in the graphs interpretation. However my primary question why do the authors use inverse temperature rather simply scaling the x-axis using Celsius or Kelvin directly?

I read some brief blurb on the Internet that inverse or reciprocal temperature is more meaningful than its counterpart. But why?

Any info is always appreciated.

--Michael

Reply to
Michael
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Some phenomena are inversely proportional to absolute temperature. Making a plot vs. 1/T is just a way to get a straight line, so that:

  1. It's easier to read off the values on a graph, and
  2. The straightness of the graph demonstrates how well the inversely-proportional behavior is followed.
2a. Any slight variation from the inversely-proportional behavior is easily apparent by the graph not being perfectly straight.

Mark

Reply to
redbelly

Hi There,

Thanks for the response. Makes sense now! I am curious though, why 1000/T versus 1/T? Alot of these plots, like diffusion coefficients for various elements in Si use 1000/T. I suspect it follows along the same lines ... making it easier to make relative temperature comparisons using larger decimals values (i.e. 1000 deg C is 1273 K so 1/K is 7.8E-4 as compared with the more friendly 1000/K which would be 0.78 in this case).

--Michael

Reply to
Mike

You're exactly right. Using 1000/T, the axis values are numbers close to 1. Just like a plot of electrical current might use mA or uA instead of Amps, when the current being plotted is in the mA or uA range. (There, at least we're somewhat on-topic now.)

Mark

Reply to
redbelly

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