What metal does a thermometer contain?

Answer 1

Early thermometers, dating back over two hundred years BC (BCE), were made using air and water. Later, in the time of Galileo (16-1700s AD or CE), these devices were refined;

Galileo used glass spheres containing alcohol to measure temperature, and today working 'Galileo' thermometers using alcohol-filled spheres suspended in water are available from retail outlets, mainly for ornamental use and as curiosities. They are attractive, though not to be considered especially accurate, and are more properly described as thermoscopes.

The original commercially-available thermometers contained mercury. The Mercury thermometer was first made by Prussian-born physicist and glass-blower, Daniel Fahrenheit in 1724. The specifically clinical thermometer was invented in 1866 by British physician, Sir Thomas Albutt.

Electronic thermometers are commonly used now for clinical, industrial and domestic purposes; these produce a digital display and are safer and more accurate than the mercury-in-glass thermometers.

The sale of mercury thermometers is banned in many countries and US states; this is causing quite a few problems because they are still required under many industrial and government standards worldwide.

Resistance temperature detectors (RTDs) contain platinum, either in the form of wire or film. These thermometers also have a digital display.

RTDs are highly accurate and are frequently used in testing the results of other thermometers to industrial standards.

Answer 2

Mercury