Thermometer

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We use a thermometer to find how hot or cold a thing, person, or animal is (its temperature).

[edit] Medical thermometers

In the past, the traditional thermometer was a mercury-in-glass thermometer. People put the end of this in their mouth (oral temperature), under their arm, or in their rectum (rectal temperature). In some countries this is the normal method today.

It is only possible to find oral temperatures on patients who can hold the thermometer correctly in their mouth. So small children can not use this method. It is also a problem for people with a cough or people who are vomiting. In the past it was a big problem, because mercury thermometers needed a long time to find the temperature. Today, digital thermometers are faster. If a person drinks something hot or cold, wait before testing their oral temperature.

When finding a person's rectal temperature, it helps to use a cream on the thermometer. Rectal temperatures are the most exact method. In some countries(for example the United States) people think it is embarrassing (they feel uncomfortable) to use them for people older than two or three. In other countries it is normal for children and adults (adults are not children) to use rectal thermometers. Doctors like the rectal method best for children.

In the 1990s, people in many countries thought mercury thermometers were too risky. Today they use electronic thermometers. Sometimes they use thermometers with liquids, but not with mercury.

There are other kinds of medical thermometers: tympanic thermometers test the temperature of the tympan (the eardrum) with infrared; band thermometers test a person's temperature on the fron of their head.

[edit] Sorts of thermometers we often use

  • Liquid-in-glass thermometer
    • Mercury-in-glass thermometer
    • Alcohol-in-glass thermometer
    • Clinical thermometer

[edit] Other thermometers

  • Rotary thermometer
  • Resistance thermometer
  • Thermistor thermometer
  • Liquid crystal thermometer
  • Infra-red thermometer
Laboratory equipment
Agar plate | Aspirator | Bunsen burner | Calorimeter | Colorimeter | Centrifuge | Fume hood | Microscope | Microtiter plate | Plate reader | Spectrophotometer | Thermometer | Vortex mixer | Static mixer
Laboratory glassware
Beaker | Boiling tube | Büchner funnel | Burette | Conical measure | Crucible | Cuvette | Laboratory flasks (Erlenmeyer flask, Florence flask, Volumetric flask, Büchner flask) | Gas syringe | Graduated cylinder | Pipette | Petri dish | Separating funnel | Soxhlet extractor | Test tube | Thistle tube | Watch glass