Talk:Galileo thermometer

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[edit] Minor Edit

Changed "How to tell time with a Galilean Thermometer" to "How to read temperature with a Galilean Thermometer:" Also, it states that as temperature increases density increases... this is incorrect! Absolutecaliber 01:00, 12 November 2006 (UTC) Question not answered. I have the condition that one day the bulbs are all in a sequence at the top of the glass and then later on they are all at the bottom. No gap so how do you read the temperature? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Froglips (talk • contribs) 23:04, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Invented by Galileo?

I think this page definitely needs to mention Galileo as the inventor. Apathetic 18:48, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

If that is true, then yes, I very much agree, and it should be within the first few sentances, if not in the first. Does anyone know if Galileo actually invented the thermometer, or if he just discovered the principles that allowed some other person to invent the actual device???
I don't know how to edit the very top part of the page or the redirect, or I would. . . but Galileo did not invent the Galileo thermometer, he invented something called the thermoscope. Which this article erroneously states is the same thing. The thermoscope couldn't tell temperature, it could only (as is mentioned in another post on this page) show the change in density of water to show that temperature CHANGED. The modern day Galileo thermometer is nominally based on that thermoscope. An old thermoscope image is here http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/genscheda.asp?appl=SIM&xsl=catalogo&indice=54&lingua=ENG&chiave=404007

I would happily write up a correct thermoscope article should anyone let me know how to get rid of the redirect on that page.

71.163.210.209 (talk) 13:58, 13 December 2007 (UTC)KC

[edit] Mass of glass bulb

I'm not signed up for this site but i would really like to know is what the mass is for one of those glass bulbs that hold the different amounts of liquid? Does any one know?

[edit] Misc. comments

Wow, people! Hi. At my school, we had to research an invention that involved math. I chose the Galileo thermometer as my invention, and it is really cool! It even led my dad to buy me one! Galileo thermometers may seem a bit (okay, maybe really) boring, but for people like me, it's, well, totally awesome. I don't want people to think i'm a geek or anything, but hey, science is cool.

--KiraNerrice 03:01, 25 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] How it really works

The basic facts in the previous dicussio,n are correct, but the conclusions are wrong!

The Galileo Thermometer actually measures pressure in the first instance, the pressure being caused by the change in ambient temperature.

The AIR in the top of the sealed container is heated by the outside temperature and it expands, applying pressure to the surface of the liquid, which is incompressible. This in turn compresses the oval floats which then start to sink because of their increased density. (their weight stays constant but their volume decreases)

To demonstrate this, take a thermometer, ensure it is stable and then wrap a piece of ice in a wet cloth and hold it against the glass where the air is. The air will cool down and the floats will begin to rise. There will not have been time or sufficient energy outflow to change the liquid temperature.

Afraid not. Buoyancy has to do with relative densities, and since most fluids are relatively incompressible, more or less pressure at the surface is not going to change the density of the liquid or the bulb. Of course, if the bulbs were not sealed on the underside, and had some air on the inside, their effective density would change with a change of pressure at the surface and they would rise or sink. There used to be some toy like that, where the position of a diving man was controlled by pressure on a flexible membrane. Paul venter 14:52, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Vandalism

Any chance of getting this page partially locked? There seem to be an odd number of random vandals about. -SabineLaGrande 07:58, 15 November 2006 (UTC)