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Thermometric Properties of Thermometers

This document provides supplementary notes on temperature and thermometers. It discusses key concepts such as: - Temperature refers to how hot or cold an object is, with the SI unit being Kelvin and common unit being Celsius. - Thermometers are used to measure temperature, with thermometric properties like mercury volume varying consistently with temperature. - The two main types of liquids in glass thermometers are alcohol and mercury, each with advantages and disadvantages for factors like safety, cost, and response time. - Clinical thermometers have a constriction to allow accurate readings while measuring human body temperature, whereas laboratory thermometers have a wider measurement range. - Constructing a temperature scale involves choosing a thermometric substance and fixed

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Harish Prabhu
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440 views3 pages

Thermometric Properties of Thermometers

This document provides supplementary notes on temperature and thermometers. It discusses key concepts such as: - Temperature refers to how hot or cold an object is, with the SI unit being Kelvin and common unit being Celsius. - Thermometers are used to measure temperature, with thermometric properties like mercury volume varying consistently with temperature. - The two main types of liquids in glass thermometers are alcohol and mercury, each with advantages and disadvantages for factors like safety, cost, and response time. - Clinical thermometers have a constriction to allow accurate readings while measuring human body temperature, whereas laboratory thermometers have a wider measurement range. - Constructing a temperature scale involves choosing a thermometric substance and fixed

Uploaded by

Harish Prabhu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

SECONDARY 1 JTP / STDP SCIENCE PHYSICS SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES ON TEMPERATURE

1. Temperature and Thermometers Temperature refers to how hot or how cold an object is. The SI Unit for temperature is Kelvin, K. However, the commonly used unit is Celsius, o C. 0K = -273.15 oC
o

when converting from K to oC, take away 273.15

100 K = -173.15 C 0 oC
o

= 273.15 K

when converting from oC to K, add 273.15

100 C = 373.15 K Thermometers are instruments used for measuring the temperature of an object.
This is essential so that we may make a more accurate comparison of how hot or cold one object is with another.

Thermometric properties are physical properties that vary uniformly, consistently and continuously with changes in temperature. For example, the volume of a fixed mass of mercury is a good thermometric property. Only substances with thermometric properties that are used in the making of thermometers. Such substances are called thermometric substances. For example, mercury is a thermometric substance (ref. Table 8.1 for more examples).

1.1 Liquid-in-glass Thermometers Alcohol vs Mercury The two types of liquids used in liquid-in-glass thermometers are alcohol and mercury. The following table lists the advantages and disadvantages of each. Alcohol-in-glass Thermometer Advantages
Safe. Cheap. Large expansivity. Low freezing point (approx. -114oC).

Mercury-in-glass Thermometer Advantages


Good conductor of heat (it is a metal). Responds quickly to temperature changes. Does not wet glass (no surface
Prepared by Melissa Yam / 2011

Disadvantages
Does not respond quickly to temperature changes. Wets glass surface. Low boiling point

Disadvantages
Poisonous. Expensive. Low expansivity. High freezing point (-39oC).

Expands uniformly.

(78oC). Needs to be dyed as it is colourless.

tension). High boiling point (357oC). Visible meniscus. Expands uniformly.

Note : when answering questions that require a comparison between the two types of liquids, choose properties that are unique to each (i.e. DO NOT choose expands uniformly as it applies to both).

Fig. 1.1A illustrates the parts of a typical liquid-in-glass thermometer.

1.2 Liquid-in-glass Thermometers Clinical vs Laboratory Thermometers The two common types of liquid-in-glass thermometers are the clinical and laboratory thermometers. Laboratory thermometers are mercury-in-glass thermometers. This is because they are used to measure temperatures ranging from -10oC to 110oC.
Can you figure out why alcohol is not used instead?

Clinical thermometers have a special feature called the constriction (ref. fig 1.2A).

Fig. 1.2A

The constriction prevents the backflow of mercury/alcohol to the bulb too quickly so as to allow a more accurate reading. Compared to laboratory thermometers, clinical thermometers have a smaller range due to the nature of its purpose, which is to measure the temperature of the human body.
Such clinical thermometers are becoming obsolete! The upgraded version is the IR (infra-red) scanner-type, which you will learn under the topic EM Spectrum.

Prepared by Melissa Yam / 2011

*Not tested in LSS 1.3 Constructing a Temperature Scale (Centigrade) The 3 key steps in constructing a temperature scale are: 1. Choose an appropriate thermometric substance. Keep in mind the range of temperatures to measure. 2. Choose 2 fixed points. These points must be easily obtainable and reproducible. The common fixed points are the temperature of pure melting ice and steam of pure boiling water at one atmospheric pressure. Ice point (lower fixed point) : the temperature of pure melting ice at one atmospheric pressure. Its value is 0oC. Steam point (upper fixed point) : the temperature of steam from pure boiling water at one atmospheric pressure. Its value is 100oC. 3. Set up the scale. Divide the temperature range between the upper and lower fixed points into a fixed number of equal parts (i.e. 100 equal parts for the Centigrade scale). Refer to table 8.2 for the detailed procedure in calibrating a thermometer. There is a general formula that we can use to determine the unknown temperature , of a substance given the length of the mercury column l (height of mercury is directly l l proportional to the temperature) : o C = 0 100 o C l100 lo Refer to worked example 8.1 (and questions discussed in class) on application of the above formula.

Prepared by Melissa Yam / 2011

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