mercury-in-glass thermometer
A nurse reads a mercury-in-glass thermometer to check a patient's temperature.
Noun: A mercury-in-glass thermometer is a temperature-measuring device. It consists of a glass tube with a small, sealed bulb at one end. The bulb and part of the tube are filled with the liquid metal mercury. The tube has a scale marked in degrees (Celsius or Fahrenheit). When the temperature rises, the mercury expands and rises up the narrow tube, indicating the temperature on the scale.
This term specifically refers to the classic, traditional design of a liquid-in-glass thermometer that uses mercury. * The mercury-in-glass thermometer showed that the patient had a high fever. * Older home weather stations often used a mercury-in-glass thermometer. * Due to safety concerns, many mercury-in-glass thermometers have been replaced by digital ones.
- The mercury-in-glass thermometer operates on the principle of thermal expansion of liquids.
- While highly accurate for many applications, the mercury-in-glass thermometer has limitations at very high or very low temperatures.
- Clinical thermometer: A specific type of mercury-in-glass thermometer designed for measuring human body temperature, often with a constriction in the tube to hold the reading.
- Liquid-in-glass thermometer: The general category of thermometers that this device belongs to, which can also use other liquids like colored alcohol.
- Mercury thermometer: A common, shorter synonym for "mercury-in-glass thermometer."
- Mercury thermometer
- Liquid-in-glass thermometer (when the context specifies mercury)
- Important Safety Note: Mercury is a toxic heavy metal. If a mercury-in-glass thermometer breaks, it requires careful cleanup to avoid mercury poisoning. For this reason, their use is banned or restricted in many countries for consumer applications.
A nurse reads a mercury-in-glass thermometer to check a patient's temperature.
- thermometer consisting of mercury contained in a bulb at the bottom of a graduated sealed glass capillary tube marked in degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit; mercury expands with a rise in temperature causing a thin thread of mercury to rise in the tube