Conclusion To use the thermocouple, place the test junction in thermal contact with the body whose temperature is to be found, while the reference junction remains in melting ice, and measure the voltage across the junctions. Then find the corresponding temperature from the calibration curve.
Precautions Heat the water slowly to ensure consistent temperature. Take more readings to give a more accurate curve. Make sure that you take the readings of temperature and voltage at the same time. Stir the water in the test beaker to ensure consistent temperature throughout water. Use a stirrer of low specific heat capacity, as it is assumed that no heat is lost to the environment during this experiment.
Safety Precaution Take care when handling hot apparatus.
MANDATORY EXPERIMENT 8
To Plot a Calibration Curve of a Thermometer Using the Laboratory Mercury Thermometer as a Standard Method 2: Using length of a column of liquid as the thermometric property
Procedure Add ice to beaker and allow to melt. Simultaneously, measure the length (l ) of the column of alcohol using a ruler 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.
