Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Fixing a thermometer

Keras - 1-6-2021 at 10:23

Folks,

so I have this blue liquid still-head thermometer I recently ordered. Took it for a brief train journey, and now it tells me that room temperature is 120 °C. :p :p

I’m not sure how that happened but there seems to be a bubble of gas in the lower bulb (see picture), which of course makes the measurements go awry. The column is not broken. Freezing the thermometer won’t get it back to work, since it will not dislodge the bubble. I could try the heat method, but I’m very dubious, and it’s pretty dangerous (one of my former thermometers exploded when I heated it).

Any suggestion as to repair that broken piece of glass and liquid? Thanks a lot!

EDIT: cancel this. The glass around the bulb was broken. I found out by trying to heat it, the blue liquid inside boiled and seeped out. On very close scrutiny, one can see a very small crack in the glass. I chucked it.

[Edited on 1-6-2021 by Keras]

IMG_0837.JPG - 732kB

[Edited on 1-6-2021 by Keras]