I just bought two new glass thermometers from a lab supply company. One is from -10 to 200 degrees Celsius, and the other is from -20 to 110 degrees Celsius. They are both the partially submergible type. The problem is that they display different readings. Right now, the

-20 to 200 degree thermometer reads 26 C, and the -10 to 110 degree thermometer reads 34 C. How do I know which thermometer is correct? Thanks for any help.

Doubt that this is of much help, but I would suggest finding a liquid, ie, water at which you know the BP, ie, 100c & use that to find out which thermometer is faulty (or inaccurate).

If the water is boiling IT CAN'T RISE ABOVE 100c, no more than ice can rise above 0c.

Otherwise take an average of the two.

[This message has been edited by Masahed (edited 06-12-2003).]

Thanks for you help...I searched for a while and I couldn't find anything on why the temperatures would differentiate.

Are they both partially immersed in the liquid to the proper depth for each thermometer? Even then that is a substantial difference and could be that they are cheap thermometers. Calibrate using boiling water.

I did the BP test, and one of them read 106 degrees C, and the other 101 degrees C. They both were submerged about 3" in the water. Im not sure about how much elevation changes the BP, but I'm guessing that 1 degree off isn't too bad. I bought each thermometer for $5 a piece here (http://store.webshoppe.net/sitepages/macnanbio/storeframe.htm). I don't know why the other thermometer would be off though? Anyway, thanks for the help.

Edit: Forgot to add thermometer numbers: SKU - THR100 and SKU - THR102, although it is irrelevant.



[This message has been edited by almightyares (edited 06-12-2003).]