MEASURING TEMPERATURE

• The most common tool for measuring temperature is the thermometer. Many thermometers, like the one pictured to the left, use two different temperature scales: Fahrenheit and Celsius. You may have wondered what these are and how they relate to each other. Both scales were invented in the 1700’s and are named after their inventors.
• The Fahrenheit scale was invented by Gabriel Fahrenheit. He set a boiling point for water at 212º, and a freezing point at 32º. Temperatures are measured all along the scale, much like a number line, with the unit of measurement being a degree rather than an inch.
• Anders Celsius invented the Celsius scale after the Fahrenheit scale was in use. He kept Fahrenheit’s anchor points: the temperatures at which water would freeze or boil, but he reset the numbers. Under the Celsius scale, water freezes at 0º and boils at 100º. This numbering scale has been adopted for most scientific study, and works well with the metric system, which they also use.
• Many outdoor thermometers work because liquid changes its volume (the amount of space  it takes up) based on its temperature.      When      a      liquid      is      cold,      it takes up less space than it does when it is warm. Since many of the changes are very slight, thermometers use a large bulb an a very narrow tube to capture changes in temperature when they happen. The markings on the thermometer are based      on      the      freezing      point      and      boiling      point      of      water. Why?      Because Gabriel Fahrenheit chose them as conditions that are easy to recreate, and Anders Celsius agreed. Sometimes, inventors set the standard for everyone.

 Name:__________________________________

Answer the following questions based on the reading passage. Don’t forget to go back to the passage whenever necessary to find or confirm your answers.

1)   Why do you think Gabriel Fahrenheit chose 32 degrees and 212 degrees as the numbers for the freezing point and boiling point of water.

2)   Why do you think Anders Celsius wanted to change the numbers to 0 degrees and 100 degrees?

3)   Why is it important to be able to measure temperature?

4)   Gabriel Fahrenheit invented the first thermometer.

Describe the process he probably went through.

5)   If you invented your own temperature scale or thermometer, what might it look like? Why?