Chapter 7: Temperature and its Measurement
Is the water hot enough for a bath? Do you have a fever? In this chapter we see why touch can fool us, learn what temperature is, and use clinical and laboratory thermometers correctly.
In this chapter you will
- explain why touch is not reliable for temperature
- understand temperature and the Celsius scale
- read clinical and laboratory thermometers
- use a thermometer safely
Topics
- Hot or Cold? NCERT 7.1
Touch tells us hotter or colder than our hand, and can be fooled.
- Temperature NCERT 7.2
Temperature measures hotness or coldness; it is measured with a thermometer in °C.
- Measuring Temperature NCERT 7.3
Clinical thermometer: 35–42 °C, for body temperature. Laboratory thermometer: about −10 to 110 °C.
Key words
- Temperature
- a measure of how hot or cold something is
- Thermometer
- a tool for measuring temperature
- Degree Celsius (°C)
- the unit of temperature we use
- Clinical thermometer
- measures body temperature, 35–42 °C
- Laboratory thermometer
- measures other temperatures, about −10 to 110 °C
Summary
- Our sense of touch is not a reliable way to measure how hot something is.
- Temperature is measured in degree Celsius (°C) with a thermometer.
- Normal body temperature is about 37 °C; a clinical thermometer reads 35–42 °C.
- A laboratory thermometer reads about −10 to 110 °C and is read while its bulb is in the liquid.