Explain the properties of alcohal and mecury
Answers
Answer:
PROPERTIES OF MERCURY AND ALCOHOL
Explanation:
Well, for one reason, alcohol is much cheaper than mercury. Various liquids could be used in thermometers, including water. Water would be even cheaper, but not too good for measuring temperatures below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. The freezing point of alcohol is about -170 F, and mercury -37.9 F.
There is a technical reason for using mercury in clinical thermometers. Mercury has a greater coefficient of thermal expansion than alcohol. This means a column of mercury will expand and rise more than a column of alcohol for the same temperature change. As a result, you can get finer readings with mercury. However, clinical mercury thermometers are on the decline. Mercury is poisonous, and a broken thermometer in the mouth is not good. Children may tend to bite the thermometer, so now the infrared ear thermometer is a better choice.
Keep in mind that alcohol thermometers generally used to measure air temperature vary over a range of maybe -40 to 120 F (or a 160-degree range); whereas, a clinical thermometer for measuring body temperatures might only measure over about a 12-degree temperature range. Because mercury expands so much more than alcohol, it is possible to read clinical thermometers to the nearest tenth of a degree – such as 98.6 F, if your temp is normal (oral, that is). The true body temperature is taken rectally.