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9 Using a Thermometer
BROWARD COUNTY ELEMENTARY SCIENCE BENCHMARK PLAN
Grade 2—Quarter 1
Activity 9
SC.H.1.1.1
The student knows that in order to learn, it is important to observe the same things often
and compare them.
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SC.H.1.1.3
The student knows that in doing science, it is often helpful to work with a team and to share
findings with others.
SC.H.1.1.5
The student uses the senses, tools, and instruments to obtain information from his or her
surroundings.
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SC.H.3.1.1
The student knows that scientists and technologists use a variety of tools (e.g.,
thermometers, magnifiers, rulers, and scales) to obtain information in more detail and to
make work easier.
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ACTIVITY ASSESSMENT OPPORTUNITIES
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The following suggestions are intended to help identify major concepts covered in the activity
that may need extra reinforcement. The goal is to provide opportunities to assess student
progress without creating the need for a separate, formal assessment session (or activity) for
each of the 40 hands-on activities at this grade level.
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1. Ask, What new measuring tool did you learn how to use in this activity? (the thermometer)
What does the thermometer measure? (temperature—how hot or how cold something is. It
can also measure change in temperature.) Have students list all the science tools they
have used so far in this quarter. (metric ruler, graduated tumbler, clock or timer,
thermometer)
2. Use the Activity Sheet(s) to assess student understanding of the major concepts in the
activity.
In addition to the above assessment suggestions, the questions in bold and tasks that
students perform throughout the activity provide opportunities to identify areas that may
require additional review before proceeding further with the activity.
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activity 9 Using a Thermometer
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170370 Q1c_ACT_9
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9 Using a Thermometer
OBJECTIVES
For the class
Students investigate how a thermometer
works and learn how to use one to measure
temperature.
2
6
ice, crushed*
ladles, long-handled
pails
paper towels*
thermometer, Celsius
(for demonstration)
water, tap*
The students
1
þ
observe the reaction of the liquid in a
thermometer tube to warm and cold water
þ
read and record the temperature in degrees
Celsius of warm and cold water
þ
observe what happens to the temperature
of a liquid when liquid at a different
temperture is added to it
VOCABULARY
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degrees Celsius
temperature
thermometer
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MATERIALS
For each student
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1
Make a copy of Activity Sheet 9 for each
student.
2
Obtain enough crushed ice to make three
pails of ice water—mostly ice, adding just
enough cold tap water to cover the ice.
Each team will need half a tumbler full of
the ice water for the activity.
3
Set up a distribution station with three
pails of ice water, three pails of warm
water, and two long-handled ladles. Keep
paper towels handy to clean up spills.
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PREPARATION
SCHEDULE
About 40 minutes
*provided by the teacher
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Each team of two will need two 1-oz
plastic cups, a spoon, a v-back
thermometer, two tumblers, and access
to the distribution station.
Activity Sheet 9
safety goggles*
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
For each team of two
2
1
1
2
cups, plastic, 1-oz
spoon, plastic
thermometer, v-back
tumblers, plain or graduated
A thermometer is a tool used to measure the
temperature of a substance. Temperature is a
measure of how hot or cold a substance is.
The thermometers used in this activity are
made up of a v-shaped metal back and a
liquid-filled tube. The liquid in this tube
expands when heated and contracts when
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cooled. For this reason, the level of the liquid
rises when placed in a warm substance and
falls when placed in a cold substance.
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170370 Q1c_ACT_9
Activity Sheet 9
Using a Thermometer
1. Place the thermometer into a tumbler of ice water.
What happens to the red liquid?
The metal backs of the thermometers show
the scales used to measure temperature.
The temperature of a substance is
determined by looking at the level of the
liquid in the tube and reading the
temperature on the appropriate scale.
It goes up and then stops moving.
2. Place the thermometer into a tumbler of warm water.
What happens to the red liquid?
It goes down and then stops moving.
3. Place the thermometer into the tumbler of ice water.
What is the temperature of the ice water?
Answers will vary.
The temperature scale used in this activity
is the Celsius scale, the international metric
standard scale for measuring temperature.
On the Celsius scale, the freezing point of
water is 0°C (32°F); its boiling point is
100°C (212°F). Students may be more
familiar with the Fahrenheit scale, used in
the United States, on which water freezes
at 32°F and boils at 212°F. (See Figure 9-1
for a comparison of the two scales.)
4. Place the thermometer into the tumbler of warm water.
What is the temperature of the warm water?
Answers will vary.
5. Pour ice water into the warm water.
a. What happens to the red liquid?
It falls and then stops moving.
b. What happens to the temperature?
It goes down.
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6. Pour warm water into the ice water.
a. What happens to the red liquid?
It rises and then stops moving.
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b. What happens to the temperature?
220
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180
160
140
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body
temperature
(98.6°F)
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freezing
point
(32°F)
Fahrenheit
Scale
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It goes up.
100
100
80
boiling point
(100°C)
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body
temperature
(37°C)
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60
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0
20
– 10
0
– 20
– 20
– 30
– 40
– 40
freezing
point
(0°C)
Celsius
Scale
Figure 9-1. A comparison of Fahrenheit and Celsius
readings on a thermometer.
activity 9 Using a Thermometer
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boiling point
(212°F)
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Guiding the Activity
1
Additional Information
Show students a Celsius thermometer.
Ask, What is this?
Some students may know it is a thermometer.
Write the word thermometer on the board.
Ask, What do we use a thermometer for?
Students may know that it is used to find out
how hot or cold something is.
Tell students that a thermometer is an
instrument for measuring temperature in
degrees on a scale.
Write the word temperature on the board.
Explain to students that temperature is the
measurement of how hot or how cold
something is. Tell them that temperature is
measured with a thermometer. Explain that in
this activity, students will investigate how a
thermometer works and how to use one.
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Give each student a copy of Activity Sheet 9.
To each team of two, distribute two 1-oz
plastic cups, one thermometer, a spoon, and
two plastic tumblers.
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Show students the distribution station with
the three pails of ice water and three pails of
warm water. Place one ladle in one of the
pails of warm water and the other ladle in
one of the pails of ice water. Have each team
use the respective ladles to fill one tumbler
half-full with ice water and the other half-full
with warm water. Have them take a paper
towel to wrap around each tumbler as they
carry it back to their desks.
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Instruct students to place the thermometer,
bulb down, into the tumbler of ice water and
watch what happens to the red liquid (see
Figure 9-2). Have them record their
observations on the activity sheet.
Ask, What happened to the red liquid in the
thermometer when it came in contact with
the ice water?
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220
210
100
200
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180
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150
140
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120
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110
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100
90
30
80
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10
40
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Figure 9-2. The thermometer in ice water.
Students should have noted that it went
down.
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Guiding the Activity
Now instruct students to move their
thermometers over to the tumblers of warm
water. Have them again record their
observations on the activity sheet.
Ask, What happened to the red liquid in the
thermometer when it came in contact with
the warm water?
Students should have noted that it went up.
Ask, What is the difference between the
reaction of the liquid to the ice water and
to the warm water?
The line of red liquid gets shorter when the
bulb is in the ice water and longer when it is
in the warm water.
Tell students to leave the thermometer in one
of the tumblers for a few minutes. Ask, What
happens to the red liquid as you leave it in
the tumblers for a while?
The red liquid moves at first, but after a while
it stops moving.
Ask, Why do you think the red liquid stops
moving?
4
Direct students’ attention to the thermometer
backs. Ask, What do you see?
Lead students to conclude that it stops
because it has reached the same temperature
as the liquid.
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lines and numbers
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Ask, What do you think these lines and
numbers represent?
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Have students look closely at the Celsius
scale on the right hand side of the
thermometers. Write the term degrees
Celsius on the board. Tell students that
degrees Celsius is a unit in a scale of
temperature. Celsius is the scale used to
describe temperature in science.
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Explain to students that each number on the
thermometer back represents 10 units of
temperature on the Celsius scale. Write 0°C
and 100°C on the board. Tell students that 0°C
is the temperature at which ice melts and that
100°C is the temperature at which water boils.
Explain that the number at which the red line
stops is the temperature of the liquid. Have
them observe and record the temperatures of
the two liquids in their tumblers.
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activity 9 Using a Thermometer
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Accept all ideas. Students may be able to say
that they represent the temperature.
Students may note that the other scale,
Fahrenheit, is commonly used in the United
States to describe temperature outside of
science class.
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3
Additional Information
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Guiding the Activity
5
Additional Information
Instruct students to go to the distribution
station and fill one 1-oz plastic cup with warm
water and the other with ice water. Have them
place their thermometer into their tumbler of
warm water. Once the liquid has stopped
moving, have students put the ice water into
the tumbler of warm water and stir. Tell them
to observe what happens to the red liquid in
the thermometer and to the temperature. Tell
them to record their observations on the
activity sheet.
Now have students move their thermometers
to the tumbler of ice water. Once the liquid
has stopped moving, instruct students to
pour the warm water from the other 1-oz
plastic cup into the tumbler of ice water, stir,
and again observe what happens to the red
liquid and the temperature. Have them record
their observations on the activity sheet.
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Ask students, What happened to the red
liquid in the thermometer when ice water
was added to warm water?
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Ask, Therefore, what happened to the
temperature?
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Ask, What happened to the red liquid when
warm water was added to ice water?
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It went down at first and then stopped
moving.
It went down.
It went up at first and then stopped moving.
Ask, Therefore, what happened to the
temperature?
It went up.
Ask, Why is it important to wait until the
red liquid stops moving before reading the
temperature?
Because the temperature is still changing
until the liquid stops moving.
Ask, What temperature are you measuring
when the liquid in the thermometer stops
moving?
the temperature of the material that
surrounds the thermometer
Explain that it is actually the rounded bottom
of the thermometer tube that measures the
temperature of the material it is in.
Remind students that they should always
place this rounded end into the material
whose temperature they are trying to
measure.
As appropriate, read or review pages 8 and 9
from the Delta Science Reader States of
Matter.
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REINFORCEMENT
CLEANUP
Have students repeat the tests under the
same conditions and note that similar results
are obtained.
SCIENCE JOURNALS
Have students pour out the water and ice;
air-dry the pails, tumblers, 1-oz cups, and
spoons; and return them to the kit. Have
students return the thermometers to the
kit.
SCIENCE AT HOME
Have students place their completed activity
sheets in their science journals.
Have students search their homes inside
and outside for thermometers and record
the temperature reading on each one.
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activity 9 Using a Thermometer
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Connections
Science Extension
Science and Language Arts
To give students additional practice using a
thermometer, set up an indoor thermometer
and an outdoor thermometer in shady
locations in the classroom and outdoors, and
have different students read and report the
two temperatures at the same time each day
for a week, month, or longer period. Ask
volunteers to maintain a class chart listing the
day name, date, and temperature each day.
Write the word thermometer on the board and
underline the suffix -meter. Tell students that
-meter comes from the Greek word metron,
meaning “measure,” and that thermo is
related to the Greek word thermos, meaning
“hot.” Point out that the suffix -meter is used
in many words to mean “a device for
measuring something.” The “something”
being measured is identified by the first part
of the word. Thus, thermometer means “a
device for measuring hotness.” Ask students
to suggest other words they know that end
with -meter and to use science books to find
other examples. Suggest that students start a
class master list of -meter words and their
meanings.
Science and Careers
Tell students that a thermometer is one of the
most important tools in forecasting the
weather. Discuss the meteorologists and
weather reports that students have seen on
television. Invite a professional meteorologist
or experienced hobbyist to visit the class and
explain what weather forecasting involves. If
possible, arrange a class visit to a weather
station or the meteorology center of a
television station so students can observe
meteorologists and technicians at work.
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Obtain a medical thermometer for taking
a person’s temperature in the ear. Let
students work in pairs to take each other’s
temperature. (Safety Note: Make sure
students clean the probe with alcohol or
use a fresh probe cover each time the
thermometer is used. Also warn students not
to push the probe far into the ear canal.)
Have students report the body temperatures
they measured. Explain that scientists
consider normal body temperature to be
about 97–99°F, although some people
typically have a normal temperature slightly
lower or higher than that range.
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Science and Health
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Science and Math
Tell students that crickets usually chirp more
quickly when the temperature goes up and
more slowly when it goes down. Explain that
they can use a cricket’s chirping to determine
the temperature in °F by counting the number
of chirps in 15 seconds and adding 37 to that
number. Encourage students to try this
method the next time they hear a cricket
chirping and check their result against an
actual thermometer reading.
Science and Social Studies
Students may wonder where the names Celsius
and Fahrenheit come from. Explain that those
were the names of the men who invented the
two thermometer scales. Encourage interested
volunteers to find out who Celsius and
Fahrenheit were and when they invented their
scales. (Anders Celsius, a Swedish astronomer,
invented his scale in 1742. Gabriel Daniel
Fahrenheit, a German-born Dutch physicist,
invented his scale in 1714.)
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activity 9 Using a Thermometer
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