1.

Liquid in glass thermometer works on the principle that liquid expands as the temperature increases and contracts as the temperature decreases.
2. The most commonly used liquids in such thermometers are
a. Mercury
b. Alcohol

Q&A
Q: State the advantageous and disadvantageous of using mercury as the liquid in a liquid in glass thermometer.

A:
Advantageous:

1. Doesn’t wet the wall of the capillary tube.

2. Can be seen easily
3. Expand uniformly when heated
4. Good heat conductor

Disadvantageous:

1. Freezing point = -39°C. Not suitable to measure temperature lower than -39°C.
2. Poisonous
3. Expensive

Q&A
Q: State the advantageous and disadvantageous of using alcohol as the liquid in a liquid in glass thermometer.

A:
Advantageous:

1. Freezing point = -115°C. Suitable for measuring low temperature.

2. Expands greater than mercury.

Disadvantageous:

1. Transparent. Difficult to be seen. Need to be coloured.

2. Always cling the wall of the capillary tube.
3. Has tendency to break the tube at high temperature.

Q&A
Q: State the characteristics of the liquid used in a liquid in glass thermometer.

A:

1. Easily visible
2. Good conductor of heat
3. Expand and contract rapidly over a wide range of temperature
4. Does not cling to the wall of the capillary tube of the thermometer.

Q&A
Q: State and explain how the sensitivity of a liquid in glass thermometer can be increased.

A:
 1. The sensitivity of a mercury thermometer can be increased by using a smaller mercury bulb, thinner wall and smaller bore.
2. A smaller bulb contains less mercury and hence absorbs heat in shorter time. As a result it can response faster to temperature change.
3. A glass bulb with thinner wall can transfer heat to the bulb easier. Therefore, the thermometer can response quickly to small changes of temperature
near the surrounding.
4. Capillary with narrow bore produces a greater change in the length of the mercury column. Therefore a small change in temperature can be detected
easily.

Calibrating a Thermometer
1. To calibrate a thermometer means to put the correct mark of reading at the correct place so that other temperature can be deduced from these
marks. 
2. To do this, two extreme points are chosen to mark its scale and these points must be able to be reproduced accurately.
3. Usually, we take the steam point of pure water as 100°C and the ice point of water as 0°C.

To calibrate a thermometer, the ice point of water is usually taken to be 0°C  

 To calibrate a thermometer, the steam point is taken to be 100°C
5.
6. After determining the position of the ice point and steam point, the temperature of an object can be determined by using the formula:

Example 1:
The length of the mercury column in a non-calibrated mercury thermometer is 2cm when its bulb is immerse in melting ice and 20cm when the bulb is in
steam above boiling water. What would the temperature be is the length of the mercury column is 11cm?
Answer:
l0°C = 2cm
l100°C = 20cm
lθ = 11cm
θ=l100oC−lθl100oC−l0oC×100oCθ=(20cm)−(11cm)(20cm)−(2cm)×100oCθ=918×100oCθ=50oCθ=l100oC−lθl100oC−l0oC×100oCθ=(20cm)−(11cm)(20cm)
−(2cm)×100oCθ=918×100oCθ=50oC

Example 2:
The length of the alcohol column in a thermometer is 2.5cm and 17.5cm when the thermometer is dipped into a melting ice and a boiling water respectively.
Find the distance between every 10°C of the scale on the thermometer.

Answer:
Distance for 100oC = 17.5cm – 2.5 cm = 15.0cm

Distance for 10oC = 17.5cm – 2.5 cm

= 15.0cm ÷ 10 = 1.50 cm

Example 3:
Figure above shows the length of the mercury thread of a thermometer at melting point and boiling point of water. What is the length of the mercury thread
when the thermometer is dipped into a hot liquid of temperature 70°C?

Answer:
l0=4cml100=20cmlθ=?T=70oCThe temperature of the waterT=lθ−l0l100−l0×100oC70=lθ−(4)
(20)−(4)×100oClθ−(4)=70×[(20)−(4)]100lθ−(4)=11.2+4=15.2cml0=4cml100=20cmlθ=?T=70oCThe temperature of the waterT=lθ−l0l100−l0×100oC70=lθ−(4)
(20)−(4)×100oClθ−(4)=70×[(20)−(4)]100lθ−(4)=11.2+4=15.2cm