Temperature and Heat Transfer 1

1.1 Temperature and thermometers

• Temperature tells how hot something is

• Thermometer measures temperature

boiling liquid normal surface of

nitrogen human body the Sun
(−196 °C) (37 °C) (6000 °C)
cold hot

Absolute melting ice boiling water

zero (0 °C) (100 °C)
(−273 °C)

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1
A Temperature scale

• Based on properties that change with hotness.

(thermometric properties)
• E.g. color of glow of iron

very extremely
cool hot
hot hot

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1

• This makes a four-point discrete temperature scale.

dark → red → yellow → white

cool hot very hot extremely hot

• But this temperature scale is rough

⇒ to measure temperature precisely,

we need a continuous numerical scale

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1

Liquid-in-glass thermometer

• A liquid-in-glass thermometer consists of a closed

capillary tube with a glass bulb at one end
• The bulb is filled with liquid which expands or
contracts with temperature (thermal expansion)
• A suitable liquid (alcohol/mercury) should expand
linearly with temperature
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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1

Liquid-in-glass thermometer

• A series of marks on the glass tube allows users to read

the temperature by observing the length of the column
• The wall of glass bulb is usually very thin to facilitate
heat transfer
• The capillary tube is made very narrow to improve the
sensitivity of the thermometer
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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1

Liquid-in-glass thermometer

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1

Other thermometer: Clinical thermometer

• A clinical thermometer is designed to measure the

temperature of the human body
• It can only measure a small range of temperature but it
is quite sensitive

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1

Other thermometer: Clinical thermometer

• A conventional clinical liquid-in-glass

thermometer has a constriction in the
capillary tube near the bulb
• This prevents the liquid column from
falling back into the bulb

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1

Other thermometer: Clinical thermometer

• Nowadays, the digital

clinical thermometer has
become more popular
• This type of thermometer
makes use of electronic
devices to measure
temperature
• It can measure human
temperature accurately in
a short time
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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1

Other thermometer: Infra-red thermometer

• Any object whose temperature is above absolute zero

(-273C) emits infra-red radiation
• As the temperature rises, object emit more infra-red
radiation
• An infra-red thermometer measures the temperature of
an object by measuring the infra-red radiation emitted

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1

Other thermometer: Infra-red thermometer

• One common kind of infra-red

thermometer is the ear
thermometer
• It measures human body
temperature by measuring the
infra-red radiation emitted by
the eardrum and the
surrounding tissue

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1

Other thermometer: Infra-red thermometer

• In addition, we can detect

the temperature distribution
of an object by using the
infra-red thermograph
• On a thermograph, regions
of different colours
represent regions of
different temperatures

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1

Thermal expansion

• Mercury column gets hot

⇒ length increases
⇒ gives a numerical scale

• But even at same temperature,

mercury
different mercury columns column

may have different lengths

⇒ need a standardized scale cold hot

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1
B Defining the Celsius scale

• Celsius scale is the most common standardized scale in HK

• Defined by TWO fixed points:

Fixed point: The temperature is

stable (fixed) and easily obtained
again (reproducible).

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1
B Defining the Celsius scale

• Celsius scale is the most common standardized scale in HK

• Defined by TWO fixed points:

Lower fixed point: & Upper fixed point:
ice point steam point

100 °C
0 °C

pure melting pure boiling

ice at 1 atm water at 1 atm

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1

• Divide the interval between the two fixed points

into 100 divisions
0 °C

100
divisions

100 °C
• Each division is 1 °C

25 °C
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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1

• Length of liquid column ℓ tells the temperature T

A suitable liquid (alcohol/mercury)
ℓ / cm should expand linearly with
temperature
25

T / °C
0 100
At ice pt, At steam pt,
ℓ = 5 cm ℓ = 25 cm

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1

• Length of liquid column ℓ tells the temperature T

ℓ / cm

25

ℓ′
′1 ′
5 ℓ = 𝑇 +5
5
T / °C
0 T′ 100

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1
C Calibrating a thermometer

• Resistance R of a wire also changes with temperature T

⇒ can be used for making thermometer

to resistance
meter

platinum resistance platinum

thermometer wire

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1

• Before using it, we have to calibrate it first

(i.e. to find out how R varies with T)
• Use a standard thermometer, T → R:

standard
temperature resistance
thermometer T / °C R/Ω
to resistance
meter 0 51.0
20 54.3
40 56.9
60 60.8
80 63.1
100 66.0

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1

• Plotting R against T gives a calibration graph

• Looking up temperature (R → T)

62 

55.5 
73
30 °C
°C

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1

Linear relation

• If the graph is a straight line

⇒ R and T have a linear relation

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1

• In fact, R only varies linearly with T within a certain range.

• For platinum, it varies linearly till 1000 °C

• For nickel, beyond 300 °C

⇒ the graph curve becomes non-linear
R/Ω

nickel

linear non-linear T / °C
0
300

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1

• If the graph (or range concerned) is linear,

T can be found by
18
– calibration graph 9

ΔT
– proportion 90

• If the graph is non-linear,

T can only be found by

– calibration graph

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1

Example 1 Calibrating a thermometer

The symbol θ here denotes

temperature, not angle.

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1

(a) The temperature rises from 5 °C to 15 °C.

Find the increase in length Δℓ of the liquid column.
Hence, find the length of the liquid column at 15
°C.

The symbol ∆ (Delta) is used to

emphasize a difference or a change.

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1
Solution

(a)
ℓ / cm

22
From 5 °C to 15 °C,
increase in length = Δℓ
18
ℓ
Δℓ From 5 °C to 95 °C,
4
10 increase in length = 18 cm
90
θ / °C
5 15 95

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1
Solution

(a)
ℓ / cm
By proportion
22

18
Δℓ + 4 ∴ Δℓ= 2 cm
Δℓ
4
10
At 15 °C,
90
θ / °C
ℓ = 2 + 4 = 6 cm
5 15 95

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1

(b) What is the temperature when the length of the

liquid column is 13 cm?

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1
Solution

(b)
ℓ / cm

22
From 5 °C to θ °C,
13 increase in length = 9 cm
18
9
From 5 °C to 95 °C,
4
Δθ increase in length = 18 cm
90
θ / °C
5 θ 95

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1
Solution

(b)
ℓ / cm
By proportion
22

13
18
9 ∴ Δθ = 45 °C
4
Δθ
At 13 cm,
90
θ / °C
θ = 45 + 5 = 50 °C
5 Δθ + 5 95

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1
Tactics

Sketch the similar triangles first before doing proportion.

18 18
9
Δℓ
10 Δθ
90 90

Remember to offset the length

at 0 °C (zero-point value).

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1
Tactics

Sketch the similar triangles first before doing proportion.

18 18

Δℓ Δℓ
10 10
90 90

Remember to offset the length

at 0 °C (zero-point value).

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1
What-if

If the liquid actually expands with temperature as shown,

is the actual temperature higher or lower than the answer
in (b) when the length of the liquid column is 13 cm?
ℓ / cm

In (b), linear relation is assumed.

∴ Actual temperature is higher.
13

θ / °C

(b) actual

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 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1

Expt 1 Using an unmarked

thermometer to measure
temperatures

Using an unmarked thermometer to

measure temperatures

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35
 Temperature and Heat Transfer 1
D Kelvin temperature scale

• Kelvin temperature (in K) is obtained by simply adding 273

to a Celsius temperature (in C)
• For example: 25 C = 298 K
352 K = 79 C
• Absolute zero (0 K or -273 C) is the lowest possible
temperature
• A temperature change of 1 C is the same as 1 K

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