Module 3

What is temperature?

Temperature is degree of hotness of a body.

What is Thermal l equilibrium? Thermal equilibrium is temperature of a body

moving from moving a high body which has a high temperature and moving to a
body that has a low temperature until temperature begin to flow same at same
temperature.

What is thermometric property? A thermometric property is material that

continuous varies with temperature.

Example of thermometric property

The volume in a capillary tube

The pressure of a gas kept in a fixed container

The length of mercury varies with temperature as the temperature increases it

gives raise in the volume causing mercury in capillary tube to increase throughout
up the tube. A temperature decrease this this causes the volume decrease the
mercury in the capillary tube will decrease.

Lower fixed point is the temperature of pure melting ice at standard atmospheric
temperature this temperature is defined as 0

Lower fixed point this temperature of stem above pure boiling water point at
standard atmospheric temperature this temperature is zero degrees.

The triple point of water, this temperature where water, ice and water vapor in
thermal equilibrium
Types of thermometer: The liquid in a glass thermometer a thin wall glass blub is
filled with mercury when its heated the mercury in the capillary tube rise due to the
increase in volume to move in fine bore of the thermometer.

Advantages and Disadvantages of these thermometers:

Cheap and easy to use

Glass is used because it is opaque and very easy to see to glass and mercury
cannot stick to the glass.

Mercury freeze at 234k and cannot be used to measure low temperature.

Mercury in glass thermometer is metal and very good conductor of heat.

They have relatively lager thermal heat capacity and cannot respond quickly to vary
temperature

The Resistance thermometers

An instrument used to measure a change in temperature by its effect on the

electrical resistance of a platinum or other metal wire. Consist of a length of fine
wire wrapped around a ceramic or glass core but other constructions are also used.

Platinum wire in these thermometers relies on the fact that the resistance of the
platinum wire varies with temperature.

Platinum wire is used because it has high temperature coefficient f resistance. This
means the higher the resistance the lower the temperature, this makes make the
thermometer more sensitive.

The platinum resistance has melting point of 2046k (it have very large range).

Wheatstone bridge is used to measure the change in resistance of the platinum.

A Wheatstone bridge is an electrical circuit used to measure an unknown

electrical resistance by balancing two legs of a bridge circuit, one leg of which
includes the unknown component.

A Wheatstone bridge is an electrical circuit used to measure an unknown

electrical resistance by balancing two legs of a bridge circuit, one leg of which
includes the unknown component.
Since a Wheatstone bridge is used very slight changes in temperature resistance
can be measured very accurately.

Thermistor s

A thermistor is a nonlinear device with a thermally sensitive resistor.

This device is very small.

The resistance of this thermometer varies continually with temperature.

The thermistor has a negative temperature coefficient. (11.19)

(11.19)Continue; this means that its resistance decrease with increasing in

temperature.

Thermistors have very small heat capacity, this mean they can respond to the
change in temperature, and very little effect on the temperature been measured.

Disadvantages

It less stable the platinum resistance thermometer and need periodic calibration
this make it less accurate the measured temperature over long period of time.

Thermocouples

A thermocouples make use of thermoelectric effect, when two metals are joined
together an e.m.f is generated and electric current flow through the circuit .
The value of emf generated is dependent on the metals being used and
temperature difference between junction j1 and junction j2 it is always parabolic
when j1 is kept at zero, in order to measure a constant unknown temperature one
junction in melting ice which provides a reference point while j2 is placed of
unknown temperature.

Thermocouples have very small junctions. They therefore have small heat capacity,
this means they respond very quickly to change in temperature.

Graph of thermocouples

( ) this is region where thermocouple is not sensitive.

The graph show the variation of e.m.f with temperature for a thermocouple
the thermocouple is sensitive in this region just below and above neutral
temperature (temperature produces a maximum( e.m.f) the change e.m.f
result a change of temperature which is very small in the region .

Constant volume thermometer

In this type of thermometer this fixed of gas is measured using a mercury

manometer.

The glass bulb holds a fixed volume of gas, in order for the volume constant, the
height of movable tube is adjusted so the mercury is always at fixed volume marker.
When measuring temperature the glass bulb is brought in contact with a substance
being measured. The gas expands and pushes up the movable the tube, the height
of the movable tube is adjusted so mercury the left of returns to a fixed volume.

The pressure of is measured = pgh+atmp

Where p = density of the fluid (mercury)

H Height of mercury

g- Gravitation filed strength