Are mercury thermometers more accurate than blue wax or red alcohol thermometers?
Van Chocstraw
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Mercury
Jan 17, 2009
12 Replies
Not intrinsically. Each has a well-known coefficient of thermal expansion; the variations come from the defects in the bore of the tube.
Hope This Helps! Rich
...assuming that coefficient of expansion is reasonably constant W.R.T. temperature in the temperature range of interest, which seems to be an acceptable assumption.
Wikipedia is surprisingly unhelpful on this:
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Martin
M.A.Poyser Tel.: 07967 110890
Manchester, U.K. http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=fleetie
And the OP may be interested to know that the above link says that alcohol expands MUCH more than does mercury (750 vs. 182 (* 10^-6 K^-1), volumetric expansion).
Martin
M.A.Poyser Tel.: 07967 110890
Manchester, U.K. http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=fleetie
It might be worth reminding the OP, if the thermometer gets broken - mercury is toxic!
It tastes like tuna.
Oh my! So does my girlfriend.
Bob
== All google group posts are automatically deleted due to spam ==
While mercury is toxic (as are all heavy metals) it really isn't that toxic when in its elemental form.
If a child bites the end off a mercury thermometer and swallows it, casualty will be far more worried about the glass than about the mercury.
Some organic compounds of mercury are amongst the most toxic chemicals.
Tim.
God said, "div D = rho, div B = 0, curl E = - @B/@t, curl H = J + @D/@t,"
and there was light.
http://www.woodall.me.uk/
In article , nimby_GIMME_SOME snipped-for-privacy@roadrunner.com says...>
Why shouldn't Mercury taste something like Venus?
Quite an earthy query.
JF
You should teach her how to bathe.
Cheers! Rich
God found Adam in the Garden of Eden and asked, "Where\'s Eve?"
"She started bleeding so she went down by the stream to wash" said Adam.
"Oh no!" said God, "We have to stop her!"
"Why?" said Adam, alarmed.
"Because I\'ll never get the smell out of the fish!"
JF
This is a dumb question !! A thermometer is only as accurate as its Calibration ! after all , all of of the marks are relative ! Is the question being asked "Which is more reproduce-able". Maybe it should be Is a Thermocouple more accurate than RTC element or a Thermistor! Yukio YANO
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