To Plot a Calibration Curve of a Thermometer Using the Laboratory Mercury Thermometer as a Standard Method 1: Using emf of a thermocouple as the thermometric property
v Thermocouple 120 Ice Test junction
100 80 60 40 20 0
0 20 40 / °C Heat source Fig 8.6
Apparatus Thermocouple, millivoltmeter, mercury thermometer, Bunsen burner with tripod, stirrer, ice, two beakers
Procedure Add ice to both beakers and allow to melt. Place one junction of the thermocouple in each beaker. One junction remains in a beaker of ice water—this is the reference junction. The other junction is in the beaker that will be heated using the Bunsen burner—this is the test junction.
Simultaneously, measure the voltage (V) of the thermocouple using a millivoltmeter and the temperature () of melted ice using the mercury thermometer.
Raise the temperature of the water by roughly 10C and repeat the process, so as to get six or seven readings. Tabulation of Data Table 8.1
/ °C V / mV
Graph Plot a graph of voltage (V) , measured in millivolts, against temperature (), measured in degree Celcius, with voltage on the y-axis.
