mercury thermometer how does it work

The mercury-in-glass or mercury thermometer was invented by physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit in Amsterdam (1714). Top of Page

Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 134,292 times.wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. If the column of mercury (or other indicating fluid) in a thermometer separates, the void will render the indicated temperature inaccurate. wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors.

The volume of mercury changes slightly with temperature; the small change in volume drives the narrow mercury column a relatively long way up the tube. Because this expansion happens at a predictable rate, Fahrenheit was able to create a scale to determine what the air temperature would be when the liquid reached any given point on the tube. Please help us continue to provide you with our trusted how-to guides and videos for free by whitelisting wikiHow on your ad blocker. In order to calibrate the thermometer, the bulb is made to reach The thermometer was used by the originators of the Celsius used two fixed points in his scale: the temperature of melting ice and the temperature of boiling water. Never store upside-down (bulb at the top).All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being publishedConsider discontinuing the use of thermometers containing mercury if it is used for cooking or is a clinical thermometer. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/9\/9e\/Repair-a-Mercury-Thermometer-Step-1.jpg\/v4-460px-Repair-a-Mercury-Thermometer-Step-1.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/9\/9e\/Repair-a-Mercury-Thermometer-Step-1.jpg\/aid602166-v4-728px-Repair-a-Mercury-Thermometer-Step-1.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"546","licensing":"