Report Copyright Infringement View in OSM UK

Description

Thermometers measure temperature. Make a thermometer using items found at home.

Resources

You will need:
A clean plastic bottle for each group
A clear plastic straw for each group
Sticky tack
Sticky tape
Food colouring
Marker pen
Water

Instructions

What's a thermometer
----------------------
Thermometers measure temperature. They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes because they’re designed to measure the temperature of different things.
The first thermometers used liquid in a glass tube. When the temperature changed, the liquid would expand or shrink in a predictable way, so markings showed people what the temperature was when the liquid was at that level.
Modern thermometers measure changes in electrical resistance in a piece of metal – this detects temperature change. People can read these thermometers instantly and they can be much more accurate.
----------------------
Add a few centimetres of water to the bottom of the plastic bottle, then add a few drops of food colouring and mix it together well.
Put one end of the straw into the bottle – the end needs to go into the water without touching the bottom of the bottle.
Use sticky tack to seal the top of the bottle around the straw and hold it in place. The top of the straw should poke through the sticky tack.
Take the thermometer outside to calibrate it. Use a marker pen to mark the level of water in the straw. Look at a weather forecast to get the temperate, and write that down too. If you can’t write on the straw, attach a piece of paper or card to it and write on this instead.
If you can, take the thermometer somewhere else, perhaps next to a radiator where it’s warmer. You should see that as the temperature increases, the water heats up, expands, and rises up the straw. When it gets colder, the water takes up less space so won’t reach as far up the straw.
Explore different ways to get hold of a weather forecast – how might you get a more exact reading? You might think about searching online, checking a newspaper, or looking at an app.

Tags

• Meteorologist
• thermometer

Badge Links

• Meteorologist - Measuring