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Measuring temperature is an essential activity for a wide variety of processes. Medical professionals measure the temperature of their patients to determine health and monitor stability. Cooks routinely check the food temperature to ensure that the food they are preparing is done just right according to the recipe. This and plenty of other examples necessitate the use of thermometers.

What is a thermometer?

A thermometer is a device that measures temperature. It does this using the physical properties of substances and how they behave under heat or cold. Some of the most common types of thermometers are infrared thermometers, mercury thermometers, bimetallic thermometers, and thermocouple thermometers. Infrared thermometers use infrared technology to measure temperature. These thermometers can be used to measure the temperature of a wide variety of objects, including people, animals, and even machinery. Wireless meat thermometers are almost exclusively infrared thermometers as this type of thermometer does not need to be in contact with the surface being measured for temperature.

Mercury thermometers are one of the oldest types of thermometers and are still seeing some use even today. Old outdoor thermometers and thermometers for fever that were inserted under the armpit are of this particular type. Bimetallic thermometers use two metal strips made of different metals with different coefficients of thermal expansion that are bonded together. Temperature changes cause the metal strips to bend at different rates. The amount of bending is then converted into a temperature reading by a pointer attached to the strip. Thermocouple thermometers, on the other hand, use the principle of the thermocouple, which is a device that produces a small electrical voltage when two different metals are joined together and exposed to a temperature difference. The voltage is then converted into a temperature reading.

Some variations of thermometers

Some examples of widely available thermometers are digital thermometers, ear thermometers, and forehead thermometers. These thermometers use infrared technology to do their readings. Modern thermometers rarely use mercury anymore, as this substance, when released through breakage, is toxic to humans. Contact thermometers such as baby thermometers and rectal thermometers are, nowadays, almost exclusively of the bimetallic type.

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