GCSE Physics for You, Fifth Edition

Answers to End-of-chapter questions for Chapter 6, Thermometers

It is very important that you are able to answer the questions on your own, using your
own knowledge of Physics.
Have a go at the questions first, and then check your answers using this page.
If you get a question wrong, try to work out where you have made an error.

1. a) temperature, molecules (particles); energy

b) –273 °C, absolute zero

2. centigrade, Celsius

3.
Mercury Alcohol
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4. [See page 26.]

The total thermal energy in an object is the total energy of all the molecules.
The temperature is a measure of how fast the molecules are moving (it is the
average kinetic energy of the molecules).
On page 26, the bath has more thermal energy even though its molecules are not
moving quickly. The sparkler does not have much thermal energy, but its
molecules are vibrating rapidly at a high temperature.

5. A clinical thermometer is designed to measure the temperature of a patient’s body,

which is about 37 °C (occasionally rising to about 40 °C if they have a fever).
Professor Messer has put the thermometer in boiling water (100 °C), which is far
too hot, so it has expanded and broken.

6. [See page 26.]

a) To be sensitive it should have a long scale (so the marks can be far apart),
with a large bulb of liquid for it to expand, and a narrow-bore tube so that the
expansion causes a large movement on the scale.
b) To be quick acting, the bulb should be made of thin glass (to conduct the
thermal energy quickly).

7. a) 283 kelvin
b) 27 °C
c) 37 °C = 310 kelvin (310 K)

OUP GCSE Physics for You, Fifth Edition © Keith Johnson & Sue Holt, 2016 page 1 of 2
GCSE Physics for You, Fifth Edition

8. a) Ensure both axes are labelled with units, that the points occupy at least half
the graph area and are joined by a smooth curved line of best fit.
b) 40 °C
c) Between 2 and 4 hours
d) After 4 hours
e) For about 9 hours (or less)
f) After 0.5 hour; after about 6 hours 20 minutes
g) After about 5.5 hours

OUP GCSE Physics for You, Fifth Edition © Keith Johnson & Sue Holt, 2016 page 2 of 2