Mercury Vs Digital Thermometer

Health and Wellness » Digital Thermometers » Mercury Vs Digital Thermometer

Mercury Vs digital thermometer argument has been going on since a long time. Before buying, many people come up with the question which of the two thermometers is perfect. Mercury thermometer is the old device used by people to check the temperature, whereas digital thermometer is improved version of mercury thermometer. The accuracy of both the thermometer is not a problem. So buying any won’t make you face any kind of loss.

What is Mercury Thermometer?

The invention of mercury thermometer was done by German physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit in 1724. This thermometer was initially used for metrology purposes, but later its use started increasing for other purposes. It helps to know the rise in human body temperature and can alarm the person if the temperature is not in control.

What is Digital Thermometer?

This type of thermometer is simple to operate and gives quick results. It is an effective way to get the temperature information and you can use it for home purposes. Due to advancement in technology, these type of thermometers is used for 3 in one proposes. You can know the indoor-outdoor temperature, cooking temperature and human body temperature. There are many types of digital thermometers available.

Using either digital or mercury thermometer will not cause any harm, as both give precisely accurate readings.

Mercury Vs Digital Thermometer

  • Mercury thermometer is limited to the specific use only. Digital thermometers are designed in such a way that they can measure the temperature for many purposes. For health or cooking monitoring, this kind of thermometer is an ideal one. Mercury thermometer can be used for all purposes, but it doesn’t show quick results like digital thermometer. However, the use of mercury thermometer has been restricted to industrial use due to environment and safety matters. The laws have become stricter for disposing the products that have mercury content.
  • The accuracy of alcohol thermometer depends on how well you can read the scale, whereas digital thermometer is accurate to one decimal point. Suppose digital thermometer gives the reading of 20 degrees or something which can range between 19.5 to 20.4, whereas in mercury thermometer you can exactly check out that the accurate figure like 20.5. The accuracy of digital thermometer gets affected due to the batteries. If the life of batteries gets over, then there can be a problem. You have to make sure that you put new batteries before knowing the readings. Mercury thermometer has no such problem.
  • You have to put mercury thermometer for almost 3 minutes to get the accurate reading. Getting the results can be sometimes difficult due to the fact that it can get affected due to environmental temperature. There is no such problem of the readings for digital thermometer. Hence, to use the digital one can be the best option.
  • The mercury thermometer contains mercury in a thin glass tube, which gets affected due to increase or decrease in the temperature. The facility of small computer is available at the digital thermometer which displays the number in the window on the thermometer side. Hence, this thermometer gives the temperature reading more quickly as compared to mercury thermometer; almost less than 30 to 60 seconds.
  • According to the research made, the government has restricted the use of mercury thermometer to certain areas. It is said that mercury in thermometer if gets in contact with the environment, it can affect by entering the water ecosystem. Due to this, the microorganisms break down to methyl mercury components. This can affect the fish and sea animals, as they have the tendency to accumulate what they consume in the body tissue. Digital thermometer has no such problems. Children are not allowed to use mercury thermometer, as chances of getting injured are more. If the mercury thermometer is broken, then it should be handled to the health care expert as it might need attention.

While considering mercury vs. digital thermometer, many people prefer digital thermometer for the fact that it has the features of easy usability. It makes you aware by giving a beep sound, if it finds the maximum temperature reading and the result later gets displayed on the large screen for the user’s convenience.