You might have heard many times how important it is to perform regular checkups at home. And you might be knowing many pieces of equipment that are useful for performing regular tests at home. For instance, thermometers, blood pressure monitors, heart rate monitors, etc. The thermometer is the most common device and one can probably find it in almost every home and healthcare center.
A thermometer is a device useful for measuring the temperature of the body. There are various types of thermometers classified on the basis of different materials used to make them and for different purposes they can be useful for. We will know more about them in this article, but before that, ensure that whichever thermometer you choose, should be accurate and have the desired temperature range.
Types of Thermometer
1. Clinical or Medical thermometers
A medical thermometer, also known as ‘doctor’s thermometers’ is a common and accurate type of thermometer useful to measure body temperature. And this type of thermometer is accurate and popular. They are mostly found in homes and doctors. This thermometer has a narrow curve where the level of mercury rises extremely fast and accurately as per the body temperature. And, there is also a kink on the thermometer tube to stop the mercury level from falling on its own. Mercury is used in this thermometer because of its high coefficient expansion capacity. This even detects slight changes in temperature. This thermometer can measure human body temperature in the range of 35 °C to 42 °C. Also, don’t forget to sanitize the thermometer with alcohol after each use to prevent infection from spreading.
2. Infrared Thermometers
An infrared thermometer has a lens to help you focus on the desired object while infrared rays are useful to measure the amount of heat generated by the body or any object. You can also use this thermometer to measure products during the processing stage that cannot be touched.
3. Pacifier Thermometers
These thermometers are commonly useful for measuring the temperature of infants. They are designed in such a way that it takes the infant’s temperature without causing any discomfort. It shows the temperature by changing colors. Here, blue indicates normal temperature and red indicates fever. One can use these thermometers in the same way as the standard digital thermometer for taking oral temperature.
4. Digital Thermometers
Digital thermometers are fast, accurate, inexpensive, and easily portable thermometers. They come with a convenient digital display. It measures the temperature by an electronic circuit sensor. The temperature depends on the sensor types that include a thermistor, thermocouple, and resistance temperature detector (RTD).
All the information of the sensor thermometer capture passes to a microchip. This microchip processes the information and displays it numerically on the digital screen. These advanced digital thermometers can measure body temperature at a high level of accuracy.
5. Laboratory Thermometers
For measuring temperatures other than the body, a laboratory thermometer is useful. It can measure the temperature ranging from -10°C to 110°C. It can measure the boiling point, freezing point, or temperature of other laboratory substances.
6. Constant Pressure Gas Thermometers
In this thermometer, the volume occupied by a given mass of gas with constant pressure is useful for measuring the temperature. Here, the increase in volume is directly proportional to the increase in temperature. It measures temperature in the range of 0K to 500K.
7. Pyrometer Thermometers
Pyrometers are useful to detect the object's temperature and electromagnetic heat radiation emitted by the object. These emissions are available in different spectral ranges. Based on those spectral ranges, pyrometers are classified into high-speed pyrometers, 1-color pyrometers, and 2-color pyrometers. Also, one does not require to touch the objects for knowing their temperature as these thermometers measure it from far away.
Thermometers are the essential tool for diagnosing any disease. As you read, there are different types of thermometers available in the market for different purposes. Thus, to avoid using the wrong thermometer or right thermometer in the wrong way, you should seek proper advice from professionals before using any of these. And this goes for every device you use. Whether it is blood pressure monitors or thermometers, taking advice from a doctor is necessary for safe use.
