Liquid Metal Used In Thermometers

1 a temperature sensor e g.

Liquid metal used in thermometers.

A thermometer is a device that measures temperature or a temperature gradient the degree of hotness or coldness of an object. Because liquids expand as temperatures rise the. In addition mercury is the only metal that is a liquid at room temperature making it an attractive candidate. It is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature.

A thermometer has two important elements. Function the liquid in a thermometer typically stays in a bulb at the bottom of the device. And 2 some means of converting this. Mercury is the only one in liquid state at room temperature.

It is also cheap to acquire and very accurate at measuring high temperatures. The bulb of a mercury in glass thermometer or the pyrometric sensor in an infrared thermometer in which some change occurs with a change in temperature. It s used in thermometers because it has high coefficient of expansion. In liquid in metal thermometers also referred to as liquid filled thermometers a liquid is used as a thermometric substance in the same way as in liquid in glass thermometers.

Hence the slightest change in temperature is notable when it s used in a thermometer. Although uncommon in modern thermometers a clear color indicates water. Lastly you do not need an external power source like a battery or electricity to run a mercury thermometer. Most metals are good conductors of heat and they are solids at room temperature.

However it is not the thermal expansion of the liquid that is measured but rather the increase in pressure that goes hand in hand with an increase in temperature.