On Fri, Oct 24, 2014 at 7:24 PM, Jed Rothwell <jedrothw...@gmail.com> wrote:
> H Veeder <hveeder...@gmail.com> wrote: > > >> ​Photosynthesis is an endothermic reaction but instead of absorbing heat >> energy it absorbs light energy. >> I doubt a calorimeter would detect that. >> > > The light source would have to be inside the calorimeter to affect the > process, so yes, it would detect the energy from the light. All energy > converts to heat. Unless the calorimeter was made of glass the light would > not escape. (Some calorimeters are made of glass. Some have glass windows.) > > - Jed > > Ok so you can design a calorimeter to detect this particular endothermic reaction, however, if you don't know a-priori what type of endothermic reaction or what energy source is involved a "standard" calorimeter might fail to detect it. Harry
