Kelvin, Lord. See

K. See Equilibrium constant Ka. See Acid equilibrium constant See Base equilibrium constant Kc. See Equilibrium constant Kf. See Formation equilibrium constant Kr See Equilibrium constant K,p. See Solubility product constant K . See Water ion product constant K-electron capture The natural radioactive process in which an inner electron (n = 1) enters the nucleus, converting a proton to a neutron, 514 Kelvin, Lord, 8... 

It IS wrong to see Maxwell s achievement as one of merely translating Faraday s ideas into precise mathematical language. Though he once described Faraday as the nucleus of eveiything electric since 1830, two other men, William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) and Wilhelm Weber, were equally influential. 

The idea that microbes could migrate across the universe was supported by scientists with a worldwide reputation, such as H. von Helmholtz, W. Thomson (later Lord Kelvin) and Svante Arrhenius. This hypothesis was still accepted by Arrhenius in the year 1927, when he reported in the Zeitschrift fur Physikalische Chemie on his assumption that thermophilic bacteria could be transported within a few days from Venus (with a calculated surface temperature of 320 K) to the Earth by the radiation pressure of the sun (Arrhenius, 1927). The panspermia hypothesis, which seemed to have disappeared in the intervening decades, was reintroduced in the ideas of Francis Crick (Crick and Orgel, 1973). It still exists in a modified form (see Sect. 11.1.2.4). 

Lord Kelvin (then W. Thomson), Lecture to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Leb. 18, 1967 Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh 6, 94 (1869) see also S. P. Thomson, Life of Lord Kelvin, Macmillan, London, 1910, p. 517. 

The historical context of uncertainty estimation in exposure assessment can be traced to the convergence of developments in multiple disciplines. For example, Stanislaw Ulam and John von Neumann are typically credited with creation of the Monte Carlo method for simulation of random events in 1946 (see Metropolis Ulam, 1949 Eckhardt, 1987). However, a paper by Lord Kelvin in 1901 appears to apply concepts similar to Monte Carlo to a discussion of the Boltzmann equation, and there are other precedents (Kelvin, 1901). The modem incarnation of Monte Carlo was first used for prediction of neutron release during nuclear fission and has since been applied in a wide variety of disciplines. 

See, especially, C. Smith and N. Wise, Energy and Empire A Biographical Study of Lord Kelvin (Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 1989), pp. 68-75, 497-501 Smith, The Science of Energy, pp. 15-30. 

In 1848 Lord Kelvin realized the significance of this phenomenon. He identified -273.15°C as absolute zero, theoretically the lowest attainable temperature. Then he set up an absolute temperature scale, now called the Kelvin temperature scale, with absolute zero as the starting point (see Section 1.6). On the Kelvin scale, one kelvin (K) is eqnal in magnitude to one degree Celsius. The only difference between the absolute temperature scale and the Celsius scale is that the zero position is shifted. Important points on the two scales match up as follows ... 

An adequate discussion of the conditions of convergency of Fourier s series must be omitted. W. E. Byerly s An Elementary Treatise on Fourier s Series, etc., is one of the best practical works on the use of Fourier s integrals in mathematical physics. J. Fourier s pioneer work Thiorie analytiquc de la Chaleur, Paris, 1822, is perhaps as modern as any other work on this subject see also W. Williams, Phil. Mag. [5], 42, i25,1896 Lord Kelvin s Collected Papers and Riemann-Weber s work (Z.c.), etc. 

Lord Kelvin said we know nothing about a scientific phenomenon until we can put numbers to it. However, with due respect to his memory, numbers are the raw material for understanding, and not the comprehension itself. We must chase the origin and significance of the numbers as far into the depths of theoretical chemistry as we can go without drowning. We shall want to see how far theoretical chemistry has been helpful to catalysis by metals. For most chemists there are however strict limits to the profundity of chemical theory that they can understand and usefully deploy, and it is chemists I wish to address. Ifhowever you wish to become better acquainted with the theoretical infrastructure of the subject, please read the first four chapters of a recently published book for these my co-author can claim full credit. 

---