Do alcohol and mercury thermometers read the same?
There is a technical reason for using mercury in clinical thermometers. Mercury has a greater coefficient of thermal expansion than alcohol. This means a column of mercury will expand and rise more than a column of alcohol for the same temperature change. As a result, you can get finer readings with mercury.
Which of the following thermometer is divided into 100 equal parts?
Consider an alcohol and a mercury thermometer that read exactly 0°c at the ice point and 100°c at the steam point. the distance between the two points is divided into 100 equal parts in both thermometers.
How do you read a mercury thermometer in Celsius?
Like the Fahrenheit temperature, each long line on a thermometer using the Celsius scale denotes a whole degree of temperature. On the Celsius scale; however, there are nine shorter marks between each pair of long marks. Each small mark shows an increase of one-tenth of a degree Celsius (0.1º C).
How do mercury and alcohol thermometers provide a measure of temperature?
A thermometer has a glass tube sealed at both ends and is partly filled with a liquid like mercury or alcohol. As the temperature around the thermometer’s bulb heats up, the liquid rises in the glass tube. When it is hot, the liquid inside the thermometer will expand and rise in the tube.
Why do thermometers give different readings?
Basal thermometers can measure small changes in your temperature. If you measure several times in a row, your body’s temperature will naturally rise (and sometimes fall), so the first temperature reading will be different than the next reading.
How accurate are alcohol thermometers?
Alcohol thermometers are also inexpensive and durable. They are typically not as accurate as mercury thermometers because of the alcohol’s susceptibility to evaporation, polymerization potential and capillary separation. Their primary advantage is safety to humans and the environment.
What are the disadvantages of alcohol thermometer?
A thermometer comparison
| advantages | disadvantages |
|---|---|
| Alcohol thermometer (compared to a mercury thermometer) | |
| lower freezing point (-114 C) | less durable (alcohol evaporates) |
| larger coefficient of expansion | alcohol can polymerise |
| less hazardous | fluid loss by evaporation hard to avoid |
Which expands more alcohol or mercury?
Alcohol expands more than mercury because of its low density and volatile nature. Mercury thermometers have the advantage of being small and compact due to its low expansion. Alcohol thermometers can only be used to measure temperatures up to 780C while mercury thermometer can be used to measure up to 3570C.
Are alcohol thermometers dangerous?
The non-silver liquid-in-glass thermometers typically contain a colored alcohol. Contact with the skin or inside the mouth could cause minor irritation or a burning sensation that should resolve quickly.
Can the mercury in a thermometer kill you?
On the other hand, a branded digital thermometer costs around Rs 250, but there are cheaper models too. Mercury is a neurotoxin, meaning it attacks the nervous system and brain. In extreme cases, mercury poisoning can lead to coma and death. However, the symptoms of mercury poisoning can be reversed in adults.
How can you tell if you have a temperature if you don’t have a thermometer?
If you do not have a thermometer Touch your chest and back. If they feel hotter than usual, you may have a high temperature. You may also have other symptoms such as feeling shivery (chills). Touching your forehead is not a very accurate way of checking your temperature.
Can thermometers explode?
It gets too hot and the fluid that marks the temperature builds up enough pressure to pop the end off the glass tube. For the red colored thermometers, alcohol is usually the working fluid, and it will usually hold up to about 170 or 180 degrees fahrenheit.
Is alcohol used in thermometer?
Unlike the mercury-in-glass thermometer, the contents of an alcohol thermometer are less toxic and will evaporate quickly. The ethanol version is the most widely used due to the low cost and relatively low hazard posed by the liquid in case of breakage.
Who invented thermometer?
Galileo Galilei
What is the basic principle of thermometer?
The basic principle is measuring temperature through merucury liquid as the mercury expands quickly by heating process and contracts in cooling process.
What was the first thermometer?
Thermoscopes
How accurate were thermometers 100 years ago?
Weather records taken 100 years ago, or longer than that, were very accurate, and in some respects were more reliable than those taken today. Weather Bureau thermometers in the early 1900s were accurate to 0.1 degree and dew point temperatures were hand-calculated using ventilated wet-bulb readings.
Who invented the mercury thermometer?
Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit
Who invented alcohol thermometer?
Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit
Can I still buy a mercury thermometer?
While mercury thermometers can measure temperature within one degree Celsius, digital thermometers can be as accurate as 0.001 degrees C a difference of four orders of magnitude in accuracy. This changeover won’t be a big deal for the average person “In fact, you can’t buy [mercury thermometers] anymore,” Strouse said.
How do you read an alcohol thermometer?
Reading an alcohol thermometer: The tube is graded with several marks along the length of the tube. Each mark is used to read the temperature. When the meniscus of the liquid moves up due to expansion of the liquid, the position of the meniscus shows the temperature against an inscribed scale.
Why is mercury a good choice for thermometer?
Mercury is the only one in liquid state at room temperature. It’s used in thermometers because it has high coefficient of expansion. It also has a high boiling point which makes it very suitable to measure higher temperatures. Also, it has a shiny appearance and doesn’t stick to the glass surface of glass.
What is the Colour of mercury in thermometer?
Mercury is a silver-white to gray substance. If your thermometer is filled with a red liquid, your thermometer contains red dyed alcohol or mineral spirits and not mercury. These are safer alternatives to mercury fever thermometers.
How long should you use a mercury thermometer?
After shaking the mercury down, place the thermometer under the child’s tongue, with the bulb toward the back of the mouth. Tell your child to keep the lips firmly closed, but not to bite the thermometer. 3. Leave the thermometer in place for 3 minutes.
What happens if you drink Mercury?
“Drinking mercury has a laxative effect,” explains the toxicologist Gebel. “Its density cleans the intestine wonderfully.” The effect is completely different when mercury is inhaled. As a vapor, the mercury is inhaled as individual atoms and quickly absorbed by the lungs where its poisonous effects begin to develop.