Thermometer (history)

THERMOMETER

Modern Age Inventions

Author: Daniela Lamas Jiménez

Date: April of 2022

Thermometer

Daniela Lamas Jiménez

Guide

Conclusion

Thermometer of Fahrenheit

Introduction

Previous knowñedges

Thanks

Evolution

Types

First thermometer

Introduction

THERMOMETER

The thermometer is an instrument for measuring temperature. Since its invention it has envolved a lot, mainly from the development of digital thermometres. Thermometers are widely used in technology and industry to monitor processes, in meteorology, in medicine and in scientific research.

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Previous knowledges and techniques

Previous knowledges

Previous techniques

Ancient sages tied to make a ruler for measuring temperature using air and water. They did experiments with a column of air in a tube with one end in a container of colored water. In 1610 Galileo tried wine instead, and this is credited with the first thermometer.

The human being has always known the sensations of heat and cold, but the measure of both sensations was unknown. We don't know if temperature was ever measured in some way in ancient civilizations, but it was not until the Renaissance that Galileo Galilei built a device that used the contraction of air in a container to move a column of water, wich in turn was used to indicate the intensity of the cooling, but due to its inaccuracy since this system was affected by air pressure, it ended up being abandoned.

First thermometer

The first inventor of the thermometer is estimated to have been Galileo Galilei, in 1592. It basically consisted of a glass tube with a hollow glass sphere at its upper end, into which a liquid was introduced that, when heated, rose through the tube. At first, the material used was water, but at a certain point it froze (at 0 degrees Celsius or 32 degrees Fahrenheit). So the water was replaced by alcohol, which does not undergo this reaction.

Galileo Galilei's invention lacked a graduated scale and, moreover, had the drawback that the height reached by the liquid depended on atmospheric pressure.

Thermometer of Fahrenheit

Around the year 1714 it was Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit who created the bulb mercury thermometer, formed by a glass capillary of uniform diameter communicated at its end with an ampoule filled with mercury. The assembly is sealed, and when the temperature increases, the mercury expands and rises through the capillary.

The physicist Fahrenheit was the one who invented the first modern thermometer. Fahrenheit invented the spirit thermometer in 1709, and the mercury thermometer in 1714.

In 1714 he proposed a new scale for the measurement of temperatures. Fahrenheit designed a scale, using as a reference a mixture of water and ammonium chloride salt in equal parts, in which the freezing and boiling temperatures are lower than that of water.

Evolution of the thermometer

In 1610 Galileo tried wine instead, and is thus credited with the first spirit thermometer. In 1612, the Italian inventor Santorio Santorio became the first inventor to put a numerical scale. It was the first clinical thermometer. The first sealed thermometer was designed in 1641 for the Grand Duke of Tuscany: it used alcohol and had degree markings. However, it was still inaccurate and did not use any standardized scale. The physicist Fahrenheit was the one who invented the first modern thermometer. Fahrenheit invented the spirit thermometer in 1709, and the mercury thermometer in 1714. In 1724, the standard temperature scale that bears his name – the Fahrenheit Scale – was introduced and used to accurately record changes in temperature. The Fahrenheit scale divides the freezing and boiling points of water by 180 degrees. Originally, the human body temperature was 100°F on the Fahrenheit scale, but it has since been adjusted to 98.6°F. English physician Sir Thomas Allbutt invented the first practical medical thermometer used to take a person's temperature in 1867. It was portable, 6 inches in length and capable of recording a patient's temperature in 5 min.

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Some types of thermometers

Temperature thermometer

Clinical thermometer

The clinical thermometer is an instrument for measuring body temperature and determining wether a person has fever.

A temperature thermometer is an instrument capable of measuring the temperature of the air in an specific enviroment.

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Conclusion

Thermometer

In my opinion, the thermometer has been a fairly important invention, especially for medicine because knowing if you have a fever or not can always help you to know if you are sick or just a little fever. In the case of the weather, it also seems important to me because if, for example, you go on a trip, you can know the temperatures you will face.

Thanks for your attention

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