The sensor in a mercury-in-glass thermometer is the glass bulb at the base of the thermometer containing the mercury. The temperature is measured by the expansion or contraction of the mercury based on the surrounding temperature, allowing the thermometer to provide a temperature reading.
It could be used to do this - it is capable of doing it. However, Mercury is poisonous and a mercury thermometer is made out of fragile glass. Thus the danger that the thermometer would break releasing mercury into the milk (which would be for a person to drink) means that a mercury thermomiter is not the temperature sensor to use in this instance.
German physicist Daniel gabriel Fahrenheit invented the mercury-in-glass thermometer
mercury
For a classic thermometer: glass and mercury, colored ethanol or another liquid.
A liquid-in-glass thermometer is a type of thermometer that consists of a glass tube filled with a liquid, typically mercury or alcohol, which expands or contracts with changes in temperature. The level of the liquid in the tube corresponds to the temperature, allowing for temperature measurement.
Mercury in glass thermometers pose a greater health hazard if broken, as mercury is a toxic substance that can be harmful if inhaled or ingested. Alcohol in glass thermometers are considered less hazardous as alcohol is not as toxic as mercury. It is still important to clean up any broken thermometer carefully to avoid injury.
No, the external bulb of a thermometer is typically made of glass to hold the mercury inside. Mercury is usually contained within the glass bulb to measure temperature accurately without exposing the user to the toxic substance.
One constant in a mercury-in-glass thermometer is the volume of mercury in the bulb, which expands and contracts with temperature changes. Another constant is the linear expansion coefficient of the glass tube, which allows for an accurate measurement of temperature based on the change in volume of the mercury.
"thermal expansion"
either mercury or alcohol
The Mercury expands with temperature. Since expansion is linear over the normal range of a Mercury-driven thermometer, the level of mercury within a little glass tube indicates the current temperature of the thermometer's immediate environment.