ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Isothermal microcalorimetry (IMC)

Okay kiddo, have you ever felt how warm or cold something is? When you put your hand on a hot stove, it feels very warm or even hot right? And when you hold a piece of ice, it feels very cold.

Scientists can use something called isothermal microcalorimetry (IMC) to measure how warm or cold a tiny sample of a material is. It's like taking the temperature of the sample, only scientists can do it super accurately and in really small amounts!

They do this by placing a tiny amount of the material they want to test into a special chamber surrounded by water at a constant temperature. Then, they use a special instrument to measure any heat given off or absorbed by the sample.

This information can tell scientists a lot of important things about the material they're studying, like how quickly it's changing or reacting with other substances.

Overall, isothermal microcalorimetry is a really useful tool in science that helps us understand how different materials behave and react with others.