Glass syringes have precision fit low-friction pistons and are relatively inexpensive, which makes them an ideal tool for studying the thermal behavior of gases. The glass syringe is used to construct a thermometer, a miniature hydraulic press, and a working heat engine. Concepts illuminated by these experiments include temperature, pressure, the ideal gas law, work, internal energy, and the first law of thermodynamics.

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Jackson, David P., and Priscilla W. Laws. Syringe Thermodynamics: The Many Uses of a Glass Syringe. American Journal of Physics 74, no. 2 (2006): 94–101. https://aapt.scitation.org/doi/10.1119/1.2162547