A thermal engineering design project requiring the design, construction, and operation of a calorimeter that determines the enthalpy of fusion for water was assigned to a class of third-year mechanical engineering students in the fall of 2002. Working in groups, the students produced ice calorimeters of two different designs: one design used an electric heater and the other design involved mixing ice with water or aluminum. The 18 student groups plus the author produced 112 data points with a mean enthalpy of fusion value of 324.1 kJ/kg, which is 2.8% lower than the published value.
