Electric thermometer, after Snow Harris — Teylers Museum

Electric thermometer, after Snow Harris

1843

An electric current in a wire will always generate heat. In this instrument that heat is transferred to the air in a glass bulb. The air will expand, which is possible only at the bottom side, where a U-shaped tube leads to a long, vertical capillary tube filled with mercury. The mercury column rises as the air in the bulb gets warmer. The height can be read on a scale in tenths of an English ‘Inch’.

The apparatus is usually called an ‘electric thermometer’, although ‘heat’ is strictly speaking something else than ‘temperature’. This version of the apparatus dates back from the adjustment, in 1872, by Snow Harris of an ‘electric discharge thermometer’, devised by the American Kinnersley around 1761.

Administration name

Fysisch Kabinet

Title

Electric thermometer, after Snow Harris

Translated title

Electric thermometer, after Snow Harris

Creator

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Dating

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Measurements

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Object number

FK 0560

Inscription

[{'content': 'WATKINS & HILL 5 CHARING CROSS LONDON', 'type': u''}]

Reproduction reference

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