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Because mercury is the only liquid metal and liquids expand more than solids on heating.

AnswerMercury is one of the few elemental substances that is liquid at room temperature. Like all substances, mercury linearly expands as temperature increases. Coupling these two properties, a thermometer is formed.

By confining the mercury to a container of known dimensions, one can determine the ambient temperature based on how much volume a constant mass of mercury occupies. Because mercury expands very little relative to daily temperature changes, the cross section of thermometers must be small enough to accentuate this change in volume.

  • It doesn't wet glass
  • It doesn't vaporize easily ( boils at 360 degree Celsius )
  • It is opaque and easily seen
  • It is a better conductor of heat and responds more rapidly to changes in temperature

1. Mercury does not wet glass, this makes the threadmove up and down without breaking.

2. It is a shining metal and easily seen.

3. It is a liquid up to 300 deg C.
Low freezing point and high boiling point.
Mercury is a metal, and so it has a fairly high temperature expansion coefficient. It is also silver, so it is quite good visible in a glass pipe, and to top it off, it's a liquid, so it can flow upward in the measurement pipe while the mercury in the reservoir expands.

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Mercury, like alcohol is reactive to heat and expands when heated and contracts when cooled. This causes the Mercury to move up and down the tube.

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Mercury or alchohol
Mercury is the only metal that is a liquid at room temperature, and is therefore the only metal that can be considered for a thermometer.

Metals in general expand more than most other materials when heated, which makes it easier to see the differences with the naked eye.

These two characteristics combined is the reason why mercury is suitable for thermometers.

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βˆ™ 7y ago
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βˆ™ 6mo ago

Mercury is used in thermometers because it expands and contracts uniformly with changes in temperature. This property allows for accurate and consistent temperature measurements. Additionally, mercury does not wet glass, making it easy to see the level of the liquid in the thermometer.

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βˆ™ 15y ago

It's got quite a high index of increasing volume proportional to increasing temperature, which makes it useful. Nowadays, due to the potential harmful effects of Mercury on human organic circuitry, synthetic chemicals with duplicated properties are used.

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βˆ™ 12y ago

Thermometers used to have mercury in them because it is very temperature reactive and a liquid across most temperatures measured in everyday life. However, this practice has been discontinued due to the health risks associated with contact with mercury from broken thermometers; most analog thermometers today use colored ethanol as the measuring fluid.

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βˆ™ 16y ago

Mercury is not the only liquid used in thermometers. Alcohol is used in thermometers intended for measuring very low temperatures (e.g. on Antarctic surveys) because its freezing point is lower than Mercury's.There are also many other things used for the manufacture of thermometers.

See link below.

Also it is now illegal to sell thermometers containing mercury in Europe, due to the environmental damaged that is caused when they break or are disposed of.

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βˆ™ 15y ago

mercury is unique in that it is a liquid at room temperature. this property allows it to expand as the temperature rises and contract as the temperature cools much more freely than metals in a solid state.

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βˆ™ 11y ago

it has high specific heat

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Q: Why is only mercury is used in a thermometer?
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Related questions

Why can a mercury thermometer be used only at high temperatures?

A mercury thermometer can go down to -30 deg C


What is Mercury thermometer use to measure?

A mercury thermometer is used to measure temperature.


What liquid metal is most commonly used in thermometer?

The liquid metal in many thermometer is mercury (Hg).


What liquids are used in thermometer?

Mercury and alcohol


Why does Mercury in the the thermometer rise?

Mercury rises in a thermometer when the temperature increases because mercury expands as it heats up. This expansion of the mercury column inside the thermometer is used to measure the temperature of the surrounding environment.


Do farmers use mercury?

only in a thermometer


Who element used of the glass tube of clinical thermometer to measure thermometer?

mercury


How is mercury used in a thermometer?

toxic poison


Why should you use only mercury in thermometer?

Actually, you should NOT. Mercury is very toxic.


Why is that mercury is used in thermometer?

Mercury is used in thermometers because mercury is the only liquid metal in room temperature. Hence our body temperature is observed by melting the liquid metal mercury due to our body temperature.


What is the mercury called on a clinical thermometer?

The liquid in a clinical thermometer is called mercury. It is used to measure body temperature by expanding and rising within the thermometer.


Why does the mercury in the thermometer go up when the temperature is high?

In a mercury thermometer, the mercury expands when it is heated, causing it to rise in the thermometer's narrow tube. This increase in volume is a physical property of mercury known as thermal expansion. The height of the mercury column in the thermometer is then used to measure the temperature.