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This text discusses the importance of temperature measurement and the different types of thermometers available. The most common scales are Fahrenheit and Celsius, and there are various types of thermometers for different purposes, such as medical, cooking, and household use. Mercury thermometers are no longer used due to their toxicity, and there are now many digital options available. Thermometers can also be found in various everyday objects such as thermostats, refrigerators, and computers. Different types of thermometers work in different ways, such as through mercury rising or detecting thermal radiation.
Knowing the temperature of things can be very important. People may need to know when the turkey is fully cooked or they may need to make sure a child isn’t burning up with a fever. In laboratory testing, precise temperature measurements are often required to maintain the integrity of the experiment. When people want to measure disease, make candy, or attempt scientific tests, the types of thermometers available are always ready to serve.
One of the first distinctions needed when discussing types of thermometers is the form of measurement. For all but strictly scientific purposes, the most common scales are called Fahrenheit and Celsius, and they can be used differently in various places around the world. For home use, people in the United States are likely to rely on Fahrenheit thermometers, but in hospitals or doctor’s offices, it may be more common to see the Celsius scale used. In the UK, Celsius is much more commonly used than Fahrenheit, for example.
Some thermometers offer both readings and others may require conversion. The simple formulas to convert are as follows:
C = (F – 32)5/9 by F = 5/9C + 32.
When precise conversion isn’t required, it’s safe to say that Celsius is about one-third of a Fahrenheit reading.
Having explained the differences in the temperature scale, the variety of thermometers can then be considered. As mentioned, thermometers are widely used in medicine to check fever in the body. Until a few decades ago, the most commonly used were mercury glass thermometers that could be inserted into the mouth or rectum to determine body temperature. Today, these are uncommon given the toxicity of mercury.
Instead, a myriad of options have exploded onto the market. Small digital thermometers can be purchased inexpensively at drugstores and can be used to take an oral or axillary (under the arm) reading. There are also fever strips for one-time checks that can be applied to the forehead or placed in the mouth. Ear thermometers analyze temperature, and some devices swipe across the forehead to get a reading.
There is no less variety of thermometers that can be purchased for use in the kitchen. Rugged meat thermometers can be dipped into cooking meat to determine its temperature. There are also many of these that can now remain in the cooking of the meat while a digital readout screen sits outside the oven. Good cooks know that candy thermometers are critical to confectionery production, as undercooked or undercooked sugar usually won’t result in the right finished product. These could range from glass types to digital varieties as well.
While these are obvious examples, there are some people who may forget. Homes are usually filled with temperature-reading devices. They can exist in thermostats and help keep homes cool or warm, and are found in refrigerators, ovens, dryers, and water heaters.
Various types of thermometers are also found in computers and function as a way of signaling computer components whether a fan should be turned on. Even a hair dryer might have a thermostat that automatically turns the dryer off if it reaches a certain temperature. Other places to find examples of types of thermometers include in cars and most large cars and many small cars.
Another way to approach this problem is to discuss the types of thermometers based on how they work. Mercury ones, for example, would cause the mercury to rise upward through a small well as the temperature rises. This mechanism is similar to the operation of glass alcohol thermometers.
Laser or infrared thermometers detect thermal radiation and produce a reading. The bimetallic strips move when they get hot, which can help control many thermostatic devices. There are certainly other examples, and they can have many uses in both advanced technology and everyday objects.
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