A SIMPLE LABORATORY EXPERIMENT WITH THERMOMETERS

Abstract

A simple laboratory experiment with alcohol-glass thermometers is proposed in order to
emphasize the priority of work procedure in the laboratory tasks. Results allow us to introduce some
quite interesting questions about the involved concepts, such as thermodynamic equilibrium or empirical
temperature, and to obtain a general view about the evaluation of the importance of the measurement
process in the operational way in scientific thinking. The explicit aim of the experiment is to measure the
temperature of a set of water samples with different amounts each. This is a simple but laborious task
which leads to undoubtedly questions of interest in a twofolded way: firstly, the difficulty on stepping
from relationships between the measured values and their reliability and accuracy, representation,
critical analysis and performances required, which are common tasks in any laboratory experiment;
secondly, the difficulties raised from the conceptualization of the measured quantities, operational
definitions which are not currently taken into account in introductory physics courses. The comparison
of experimental results with the theoretical explanation allow us to combine both rationale methods,
coupling the involved concepts to required manipulations and the proposal of new improvements.