Talk:Thermometer

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How about thermometers that use color changing materials to determine body temperature? Jaberwocky6669 22:24, Mar 12, 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Contradiction

Wikipedia mentions that this article lacks sources. I submit that this article is as accurate and non-specific as it can be/needs to be. It is simply an introduction and does not need sources as its' source material is those links at the bottom of the page that have all the citations necessary with the information. I also do not believe that it is contradictory with the timeline article, as the exact date is unknown, as well are all the facts on this subject not completely known. This is as accurate as this article need be and is purposfully split beyond that to limit its' size. Please refer to all articles on this subject for a complete range of resources and review other information to come to a conslusion as to exact dates as these are still in debate. ---- unsigned comment was added by Borghuman (talk • contribs) .

As far as I can tell this debate will be continued well into eternity unless someone can invent a time machine and settle it once and for all. -—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Borghuman (talk • contribs) .

I found out that Galileo Galilei invented a rudimentary water thermometer in 1593, Yet in here Timeline_of_temperature_and_pressure_measurement_technology it said Galileo invented it in 1592. Which is it? -—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Wiz126 (talk • contribs) .

I have no idea, but what was your source? This should probably be cited, too... -postglock 04:17, 6 October 2006 (UTC)
I've also added similar tags at Timeline of temperature and pressure measurement technology. -postglock 04:21, 6 October 2006 (UTC)
I did a little search and I found Galileo Galilei in the Table of Notable Modern Inventions and Discoveries on the History Channle. According to them, Galilei invented the Water thermometer in 1593 Here is the link (scroll down a little) History Channle Link. --Wiz126 05:17, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

For some reason I forgot to Google first :-)... Strange though, because I seem to get a similar amount of hits for Galileo thermometer 1592 (704) as I do for Galileo thermometer 1593 (640). I'm not really sure what to think. The History Channel is not the most reliable of sources, but I'm not sure what other authoritative sources we might find this information in. Perhaps we could just give a date range? -postglock 00:28, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

Although the history channle is not the most reliable source I do think its allot more reliable then other sources. Here is another Source About they say 1593 a well. --Wiz126 02:10, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I do agree that it is more reliable than other internet sources. My point is that there are plenty of other sources that also say 1592 (and some that say 1606, etc) if you google for it... I am just not sure what to do in a case like this, where the date is far from definitive. -postglock 11:55, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

You say that "The thermometer was invented in 1592(source), however others claim it was in 1593(next source) while others give 1606(third source)." or something like that. Thus it's up to the reader what they want to believe. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 19:49, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

Fair call, but in this case, with so many sources, and with none of them particularly reliable, seems almost moot to list sources, really. -postglock 03:18, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes, that was based on the sources being reliable. All you really need though i someone with access to a better public library than I do is to go and look through some reference material and see what they say. The sources don't have to be online. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 15:19, 8 October 2006 (UTC)
I believe the original source is Life of Galileo by Vincenzo Viviani, which says (in translation) "about the time Galileo took the chair of mathematics in Padua at the end of 1592, he invented the thermometer, a glass containing air and water". Notice the word "about", the fact that it was the end of 1592, and the fact that the process of invention may have taken months from the idea to the first working model.Chemical Engineer 12:48, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

i thought galileo created the thermoscope not the thermometer since it didn't have measurements, Santorio added a scale and created the first thermometer or am i wrong?

No, your right, I think. Though I do beleive that it was more than just Santorio that created the thermometer. I could be wrong too, though. Afterall, adding a scale to an invetion can't be that hard, can it? (unsigned)

Things that seem obvious in hindsight can be very hard. Converting arbitrary levels of hotness to a linear scale is a major step, and puts the 'meter' in thermometer.Chemical Engineer 15:04, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Use of thermometers and mercury

Is it possible for mercury to be used in thermometers in this day and age? I'm an unsure whether the chemical is easy to obtain and cheap, or have the ability to be placed in a clock device that tells the temperature. Daily Rubbings 16:35, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Yes, mercury-in-glass and mercury-in-steel thermometers are still in use.Chemical Engineer 15:04, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Distinction between thermometers and temperature sensors

It seems to me, by reading this article, that not all temperature sensors can properly be called thermometers; that thermometers are only one class of a specific type of temperature sensor. If this is correct, then the articles definitely should not be merged. Shanoman 22:01, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

A thermometer consists of a temperature sensor and a read-out device. For a mercury-in-glass unit, the bulb is the sensor and the scale is the read-out device. A thermocouple has to be combined with electronics to make an industrial thermometer.Chemical Engineer 15:04, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Plagiarism

The paragraph "This history of the thermometer, etc" is the blurb for a book, pasted from the publisher's web page [[1]]. The book is not credited. Copyright?Chemical Engineer 15:04, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

So I have removed it.Chemical Engineer 13:42, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

You've been visited by "The Pit" Enjoy —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.58.96.228 (talk) 00:55, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

I wonder if "the Pit" (above) inserted the obscene vandalism in the first line of the article which I have just deleted. ReggyRaccoon 05:16, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] thanks

this helped with homework alot! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.32.11.69 (talk) 20:57, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] 1/1, 2/1

All the thermometers here in Taiwan have a curious "1/1" next to the centigrade scale, and "2/1" next to the Fahrenheit scale (unlike any of Commons:Category:Measuring_instruments we see.) Please mention what this is all about. Jidanni (talk) 01:30, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Merge proposal with basal thermometer

Basal thermometer does not have any future as a full-fledged article. About everything that could be said about them is already there, and it's about section-sized. So I propose making it a section in this article instead. LyrlTalk C 13:47, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

I agree--AssegaiAli (talk) 10:31, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

I agree as well. Also, people may not think to search Basal thermometer when looking for that, and will probably just search thermometer. 64.1.76.178 (talk) 02:26, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

4thed. Basal has been redirected/merged to Medical thermometer in the interim. I just actually proposed that medical be merged here as well since that's also section-sized. I've done requisite tags and posted it to WP:PM. Travellingcari (talk) 01:21, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Merge proposal with medical thermometer

this section needed to be here, so I'm adding it. Pdbailey (talk) 04:07, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

Oppose. The concepts are clearly different and the topics covered are different (one is about thermometers, the other about how the same is applied to humans). I would find the information in medical thermometers odd in this article. Pdbailey (talk) 04:07, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

Oppose The two articles are different. This article should be about the thermometer in general. Types of thermometers should be seperate. CambridgeBayWeather Have a gorilla 16:32, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

Comment "Types of thermometers should be seperate". In theory, I agree with you. However there isn't enough in either basal (which got redirected to medical anyway) or medical to warrant a separate article. Thermometer is a fine article but Medical thermometer has been tagged for improvement/expansion for a year and there just isn't much that can be done with it. It's not particularly encyclopedic yet I don't think it's bad enough to be deleted. It was my theory that merging it would be a way to centralize the information. IMO, who's going to look to Wiki for info on a medical thermometer? To me, that's a google question whereas Thermometer itself is ore encyclopedic. Oh and apologies for not getting this section here in the first place, I never quite get them on the right talk pages with the merge tags. Travellingcari (talk) 17:06, 26 January 2008 (UTC)
What about the other short thermometer articles other than medical? CambridgeBayWeather Have a gorilla 21:05, 26 January 2008 (UTC)
Could they all be covered succinctly in Thermometer? I don't know, I haven't read them all. I stumbled on Medical thermometer at random, literally, via Special:Random and based my opinion based on that. Also note the basal discussion above, there is clearly a line of thinking that these articles aren't substantive enough to stand on their own. I'm not sure whether they all should be merged here or into one article along the lines of types of thermometers, which could easily be linked from here. Not sure if that's ideal either but it's an option. Thoughts on that? Travellingcari (talk) 22:22, 26 January 2008 (UTC)
Some of the articles are fairly short but some are not. CambridgeBayWeather Have a gorilla 17:07, 28 January 2008 (UTC)
True, and over at Medical thermometer someone just made a suggestion of how to expand that. I'm not 100% convinced that the types of thermometers couldn't be merged, but the length of the others is a valid concern. Travellingcari (talk) 01:01, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

Support. In medical settings, a variety of different types of thermometers are used, including mercury thermometers and digital thermometers and infrared thermometers. There is nothing patently "medical" about any of the thermometers used in clinical practice today and the topic does not warrant its own article, at least as it stands now. The topics of human body temperature measurement in health and disease is thoroughly discussed in the entries on "thermoregulation," "fever," "hyperthemria," and "hypothermia." -Tsoni Peled, medical student —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.98.122.227 (talk) 23:14, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Pill Thermometer

I just wrote a small article on Pill Thermometers which should probably be linked from here, but I'm not sure where to best fit it in, or if it should be linked from one of the more specific types of thermometer pages themselves. Any Suggestions? Thavelick (talk) 01:21, 21 May 2008 (UTC)

I went ahead and added a link in the Thermometer Types Section. Thavelick (talk) 17:51, 27 May 2008 (UTC)