We are spoiled for choice when it comes to choosing a thermometer, from the trusty old mercury thermometer to modern-day digital sensors. Centuries ago, though, measuring the ambient temperature was performed by devices such as the Galileo thermometer.
A Galileo thermometer is a meteorological instrument consisting of a sealed glass tube filled with a clear liquid containing small glass bulbs of varying densities. Ambient temperature changes also alter the liquid’s density, causing different bulbs to rise or fall, which indicates the temperature.
Although this specific thermometer as we know it today wasn’t designed by Galileo himself, all the principles that the thermometer is based upon were discovered and implemented by Galileo Galilei and his thermoscope.
What Is A Galileo Thermometer?
A Galileo thermometer is a meteorological instrument consisting of a sealed glass tube filled with a clear liquid containing small glass bulbs of varying densities. Ambient temperature changes also alter the liquid’s density, causing different bulbs to rise or fall, which indicates the temperature.
Each bubble is partially filled with a different colored liquid. Small metal tags of different weights are also hanged below each bulb to adjust their “density,” while each tag also contains a number.
Any changes in air temperature change the density of the liquid as well. This causes the bubbles inside the liquid to rise and fall in response to changes in the fluid’s density.
By observing the different heights at which the glass bubbles are floating, the temperature can be determined. This is done by identifying the number of the tag below the bubble floating at the “right height.”
If this sounds confusing to you, you are not alone. If I only described to you what a Galileo thermometer looks like and how it responds to temperature changes, it would be difficult to understand what is really happening and why.
One needs to understand the principles and forces at work that make all the parts in this thermometer behave the way they do and how they all work together to help determine the atmospheric temperature.
ARTICLE SOURCE: ownyourweather
