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Thermometers and temperature scales – calibrate, compare, convert °C, °F, K

Integrated ScienceScientific Skills & MeasurementAges 11–12Virtual lab

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Use with my class

Calibrate a blank liquid-in-glass thermometer from two fixed points (melting ice at 0 °C, boiling water at 100 °C and 1 atm), then use it to measure an unknown beaker of water. Compare a clinical thermometer (35–42 °C, the kink holds the reading), a laboratory thermometer and a digital thermometer on cold water, hot water and a patient. A third screen puts the Celsius, Fahrenheit, Kelvin and Réaumur scales side by side for conversions.

Lesson: Measuring temperature: liquid-in-glass thermometers, fixed points, clinical thermometer, Celsius, Fahrenheit and Kelvin scales

What it shows

A liquid-in-glass thermometer works because the liquid in the bulb expands evenly as it warms, so the column length rises in equal steps for equal temperature rises. Students give a blank thermometer its own scale: they mark the column at the lower fixed point (melting ice, 0 °C) and the upper fixed point (boiling water at 1 atm, 100 °C) and divide the gap into 100 parts. They then compare clinical, laboratory and digital thermometers by range, smallest division and response time, and convert between the Celsius, Fahrenheit, Kelvin and Réaumur scales.

How to use

On Calibrate, use Put in to place the bulb in Melting ice, wait until the column is steady and press Mark 0 °C; repeat in Boiling water with Mark 100 °C. Put it in Beaker X, read your scale in the magnifier and press Record reading. On Compare, choose a Thermometer and a sample, and use Shake down for the clinical one. On Scales, drag a column or the Temperature slider.

Parameters you can change

  • Screen Calibrate a thermometer, Compare thermometers, Temperature scales
  • Thermometer liquid Red spirit, Mercury
  • Inner diameter of the tube (bore) 0.25–0.5 mm
  • Thermometer in use (Compare screen) Clinical thermometer, Laboratory thermometer, Digital thermometer
  • Temperature (Scales screen) -40–120 °C

Questions to explore

  1. Why must you wait until the liquid column stops moving before you mark a fixed point?
  2. Why does a clinical thermometer keep showing the patient's temperature after you take it out?
  3. At what temperature do the Celsius and Fahrenheit scales show the same number?

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