What is a mercury thermometer? Uses and advantages and disadvantages of mercury thermometers

Mercury thermometers have long been used in life to perform temperature measurement tasks. To better understand the concept, uses as well as advantages and disadvantages of mercury thermometers, please follow the article below!

What is a mercury thermometer?

The mercury thermometer is a thermal measuring device invented by physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit in Amsterdam. Mercury thermometers are commonly used to measure body temperature, measure the temperature of water, air and solutions,…

Mercury thermometer consists of 3 parts :

• Temperature sensing part: It is a mercury container, which has the effect of receiving heat from the environment to be measured, and under the influence of the principle of expansion of matter (specifically, mercury here), depending on the temperature that dilation of mercury varies.
• Capillary tube: A column that conducts mercury that expands when in contact with the environment, thereby measuring the temperature of the environment
• The display of the results: The number lines, based on the principle of expansion of mercury, that each height of the capillary tube has the corresponding temperature.

Mercury thermometer has a simple structure with 3 parts

Working principle:

Mercury thermometers work on the principle that mercury expands with temperature . The change in temperature causes the column to run to expand or pull the mercury in the tube. This activity is immediately displayed with a data confirming the calibration level of the temperature scale.

Mercury thermometers work by expanding mercury with temperature

Uses of mercury thermometers

Mercury thermometers are widely used in practice, with diverse uses in many different fields:

• In medicine: Mercury thermometers are used to measure the patient’s body temperature, helping doctors to capture the patient’s health status to provide accurate treatment.
• In industry: Mercury thermometers are used in many manufacturing fields such as controlling the temperature of boilers, liquids, gases, etc. to make the production process more accurate.
• In culinary: Mercury thermometers are also used in controlling cooking temperatures so that foods are as delicious as possible. Or a mercury thermometer with an alcohol expander is also used to measure the alcohol content of alcohol.

In general, the practical applications of mercury thermometers are very diverse and are used by many people because of their accuracy when measuring.

Mercury thermometers are often used to measure the body temperature of patients

Advantages and disadvantages of mercury thermometers

Advantage

• The price of the thermometer is cheap, ranging from 15 to 40 thousand VND (updated 02/2023 and may change over time).
• The product gives high accuracy temperature measurement results.
• The thermometer does not use batteries, does not need to change batteries, so it can be used flexibly anywhere.
• You can buy a thermometer at any drugstore, which is extremely convenient.

Mercury thermometer gives high accuracy temperature measurement results

Defect

• Measuring time is quite long from 5-7 minutes .
• Quite fragile and of low strength.
• Safety is not high, broken thermometers if not handled properly will cause mercury poisoning.
• Difficult to read temperature readings.
• It is not convenient to measure babies because they are restless.

Is the mercury in a mercury thermometer toxic?

Mercury is a silvery-white metal that is liquid, insoluble in water, and can evaporate relatively easily at room temperature.

Mercury is very toxic , when in contact with the body can cause poisoning. Therefore, it is important to avoid breaking mercury thermometers because they can be volatile and easily inhaled. If you breathe in mercury, you can develop severe acute lung disease, leading to coughing, shortness of breath, and chest pain.

In addition, it causes memory loss, stomatitis, convulsions, nausea, and enteritis. If inhaled in large amounts and in poor health, it can cause acute poisoning, respiratory failure, and even death.

Factors to consider when buying a mercury thermometer

Despite the potential risk of breakage, the accuracy of mercury thermometers cannot be denied. Therefore, despite the danger, many users and in hospitals still use mercury thermometers.

Therefore, when buying a mercury thermometer, you need to consider the following factors:

• Buy from reputable and guaranteed brands.
• Check the integrity of the product , avoid choosing broken, cracked products.
• The clear graduated lines are easy to observe and read the temperature.

Some reputable mercury thermometer brands

Currently, on the market there are many types of mercury thermometers from many different brands. However, 3 brands of thermometers Aurora, Sika, Tokyo and Safety are always trusted by many users to choose and feel secure when using.

Aurora brand thermometer

Hopefully, the above article can help you better understand mercury thermometers so you can choose to buy and use them properly. If you have any questions, leave a comment below!