CSEE (Form 4) Temperature — practice questions

1. Each thermometer is filled with the liquid best suited to the extreme it records. 2. A maximum thermometer uses mercury, which has a high boiling point and so survives high temperatures. 3. A minimum thermometer uses alcohol, which stays liquid at temperatures where mercury would freeze. 4. That lets the alcohol register very low readings that mercury could not reach. 5. The two liquids are chosen for opposite reasons, so swapping them round makes each thermometer useless for its purpose. _Source: NECTA CSEE 2021 Physics 031, Question 1: Multiple Choice, item (v)_

1. A maximum thermometer must record the highest temperature reached without the liquid boiling away. 2. Mercury has a high boiling point, so it stays liquid across a wide upper range. 3. That is exactly what lets it register high temperatures reliably. 4. Its freezing point is comparatively high, which is a drawback rather than a reason, and why alcohol is used for minimum thermometers. 5. A liquid with a low expansion rate would give a cramped, hard-to-read scale, so that would count against it. _Source: NECTA CSEE 2021 Physics 031, Question 1: Multiple Choice, item (v)_