Types of thermometers

Liquid in Glass

liquid in glass thermometer
Thermometric Property (TP): Volume of liquid.

Pros: Cheap and simple to use.

Cons: Fragile, dangerous with glass and mercury, small range.

Resistance thermometer

TP: Resistance in a platinum wire.

Pros: Accurate with a wide range.

Cons: Slow to react.

Constant volume gas thermometer

TP: Pressure of a gas.

Pros: Very accurate.

Cons: Slow to react, not portable

Optical Pyrometer

TP: Colour or frequency.
Pros: Non-contact, simple to use.
Cons: Not very accurate.

Thermistor

TP: Resistance of semiconductor.

Pros: Can be read by computer or datalogger.

Cons: Not very accurate

Thermocouple

TP: Voltage across juction of two dissimilar metals.
Pros: Rapid responce, can detect small changes in temperature.
Cons: Small emf produced.

Ranges for the different thermometers