Chapter 8 – Temperature

‘Section A’ Experiment Question

Q1 In an experiment to obtain the calibration curve of a thermometer a student
placed the thermometer to be calibrated in a beaker of water along with a
standard mercury thermometer. The temperature of the water along with
thermometric property were measured for different temperatures.The table
shows the data recorded.

Table 8.3

Temperature / °C 0 16 30 44 60 75 95

Value of the thermometric property 35 46 55 63 74 82 94

(i) Draw a labelled diagram of the apparatus used in the experiment. (12)

Mercury
v thermometer

Thermocouple

Ungraduated Graduated
alcohol mercury
thermometer thermometer

Ice
Test
junction

Water

Gauze

Heat source Hotplate

beaker of water / mercury thermometer / uncalibrated thermometer / means

of recording thermometric property / heat source / detail to improve the
accuracy, e.g. stirrer (any four 4 ⴛ 3)

(ii) Use the data in the table to draw a graph of temperature against the value of
the thermometric property. (12)
label axes correctly (name / symbol / unit acceptable) (3)
plot three points correctly (3)
plot another three points correctly (3)
straight line (3)

T E M P E R AT U R E 43
 100
90

Thermometric Property
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
 / °C

(iii) Use your graph to estimate the value of the thermometric property when
the temperature is 50 °C. (4)
66.25 [acceptable range 65–67.5] (4)

(iv) State a precaution that could have been taken in this experiment to ensure
its accuracy. (3)
more readings / take the temperature and reading of property at the same
time / use stirrer (any one 3)

(v) Name a thermometric property that could have been used in this exper-
iment. How would the value of this thermometric property have been
measured? (6)
resistance / emf / voltage / length / volume / pressure / etc. (any one 3)
ohmmeter / multimeter / millivoltmeter / metre stick / volume scale /
pressure gauge / etc. (3)

‘Section B’ Short Question: Typical of

Question 5 in Leaving Cert. Exam
Q2 Answer all of the following parts (a), (b), (c), etc.
(a) What is the difference between temperature and heat? (7)
heat is a form of energy (4)
temperature is a measure of hotness (or coldness) (3)

(b) The temperature of a body is 300 K. What is its temperature in degrees

Celsius? (7)
27 (26.85) °C (7)

(c) Explain the term thermometric property. (7)

a property that changes (4)
measurably / continuously / regularly / uniformly, with temperature (3)

44 I N V E S T I G AT I N G P H YS I C S
 (d) Why it is necessary to have a standard thermometer? (7)
different thermometric properties // two different types of thermometer (3)
do not change proportionally with the same change in degree of hotness //
will give different readings at the same temperature (4)

(e) Give the equation that defines temperature on the Celsius scale. (7)
t(°C)  T (K)  273 (7)

(f) What is the thermometric property of a thermistor? (7)

(electrical) resistance (7)

(g) What is the temperature of the boiling point of water in kelvin? (7)
373(.15) K (7)

(h) What are the two requirements for devising a temperature scale? (7)
two fixed points that can be easily reproduced (4)
a division of the fundamental interval (3)

(i) Give an example of a practical thermometer and state the thermometric

property it is based on. (7)
alcohol or mercury / length // thermocouple / emf // infrared / hot bodies
emit radiation // liquid crystal thermometers / colour (any pair 4 ⴙ 3)

(j) Give a reason why infrared thermometers are becoming more commonly
used in clinical situations compared with the traditional clinical alcohol
thermometers. (7)
less invasive / quicker / more hygienic / easier to use (7)

‘Section B’ Half Question: Typical of

Question 12 in Leaving Cert. Exam
Q3 Answer both of the following parts (a) and (b).
(a) In the early part of the 18th century the German-Dutch engineer Gabriel
Fahrenheit invented the first standard thermometer scale.The lowest temper-
ature that he could produce in his lab was in a mixture of ice, water and salt;
he used this as the lower point for his temperature scale.The upper point
was body temperature. He defined his scale so that 0 °F was the lower point
and 32 °F was the temperature of melting ice, which gave the upper point a
value of 96 °F.The Fahrenheit scale was later redefined so that the boiling
point of water is 212 °F, giving normal body temperature a value of 98.6 °F.

(i) To calibrate a thermometer, a thermometric property and two fixed

points are needed. Fahrenheit used a mercury thermometer. What is the
thermometric property for that type of thermometer? (4)
length / height / volume (of mercury column) (4)

T E M P E R AT U R E 45
 (ii) Give two examples of thermometric properties, other than the one used
for the mercury thermometer. (6)
resistance / emf / voltage / colour / volume / pressure, etc. (any two 2 ⴛ 3)

(iii)What is temperature? (6)

measure / scale / level // hotness or coldness (of a body) (3, 3)

(iv)We now know that zero degrees Fahrenheit is not the lowest temper-
ature possible. Who is credited with discovering absolute zero? (6)
(Lord) Kelvin / William Thompson (6)

(v) Although the Fahrenheit scale is still used in the United States of America,
the Celsius scale is more commonly used in Europe. What are the two
fixed points on the Celsius scale? (6)
melting point of ice / 0 (°C) (3)
boiling point of water / 100 (°C) (3)

(b) The length of a column of mercury in an ungraduated thermometer and the

resistance of a platinum wire were measured when placed in (i) melting ice,
(ii) warm water and (iii) steam; the values were 40 mm, 100 mm and
180 mm and 5.2 , 6.6  and 8.8  respectively.
Draw suitable graphs on graph paper to find the temperature of the warm
water using:

(i) the length of mercury scale (12)

point (40, 0) plotted correctly (3)
point (160, 100) plotted correctly (3)
straight line drawn between points (3)
u  41.5° (3)
200
180
160
140
l / mm

120
100
80
60
40
20
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
 / °C

(ii) the resistance of platinum scale. (9)

point (5.2, 0) plotted correctly (3)
point (8.8, 100) plotted correctly (3)
u  39.5° (3)

46 I N V E S T I G AT I N G P H YS I C S
 10
9
8
7
6

R/⍀
5
4
3
2
1
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
 / °C

Why is there a difference in the temperature reading on each scale? (7)

different thermometric properties / do not change proportionally with the
same change in degree of hotness (4, 3)

T E M P E R AT U R E 47