A meter is a thermodynamic system which displays some aspect of its thermodynamic state to the observer. The nature of its contact with the system it is measuring can be controlled, and it is sufficiently small that it does not appreciably affect the state of the system being measured. The theoretical thermometer described below is just such a meter.
In some cases, the thermodynamic parameter is actually defined in terms of an idealized measuring instrument. For example, the zeroth law of thermodynamics states that if two bodies are in thermal equilibrium with a third body, they are also in thermal equilibrium with each other. This principle, as noted by James Maxwell in 1872, asserts that it is possible to measure temperature. An idealized thermometer is a sample of an ideal gas at constant pressure.
From the ideal gas law, the volume of such a sample can be used as an indicator of temperature; in this manner it defines temperature. Although pressure is defined mechanically, a pressure-measuring device called a barometer may also be constructed from a sample of an ideal gas held at a constant temperature. A calorimeter is a device which is used to measure and define the internal energy of a system.
Some common thermodynamic meters are:
* Thermometer - a device which measures temperature as described above
* Barometer - a device which measures pressure, most notably atmospheric pressure. An ideal gas barometer may be constructed by mechanically connecting an ideal gas to the system being measured, while thermally insulating it. The volume will then measure pressure, by the ideal gas equation P=NkT/V .
* Calorimeter - a device which measures the heat energy added to a system. A simple calorimeter is simply a thermometer connected to a thermally isolated system.