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Year 6 Science — Temperature and its measurement

Say why touch cannot judge hotness, read a thermometer correctly, and convert a Celsius temperature to the Kelvin scale.

Name: ________________________

Before you start

Slide along this laboratory thermometer's scale. Its range runs from one end to the other, and each small step is ten degrees.

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A clinical thermometer covers nothing like this stretch, which is why it cannot be used on boiling water or on ice.

  1. 1.The normal temperature of a healthy human body is taken to be what, in degrees Celsius? Answer with a number.

  2. 2.Why must a laboratory thermometer be read while its bulb is still in the water?

    • a) The scale becomes unreadable out of water
    • b) The liquid column starts to fall the moment it is taken out
    • c) The glass cracks if it is lifted out too quickly
    • d) The reading takes an hour to settle

  3. 3.A temperature of 37.0 °C on the Celsius scale is the same temperature as which reading on the Fahrenheit scale?

    • a) 100 °F
    • b) 37.0 °F
    • c) 98.6 °F
    • d) 273.15 °F

  4. 4.What is the name of the device that measures temperature?

  5. 5.One hand comes out of warm water and the other out of ice-cold water. Both go into the same bowl of tap water, and they report different things. What does the chapter conclude?

    • a) Touch is not a reliable way to decide how hot something is
    • b) The tap water changed temperature in between
    • c) One of the hands is faulty
    • d) Warm water makes whatever follows feel cold

  6. 6.Between which two temperatures does human body temperature normally stay?

    • a) 0 °C and 100 °C
    • b) 35 °C and 42 °C
    • c) -10 °C and 110 °C
    • d) 20 °C and 30 °C

  7. 7.A thermometer that reads a person's temperature without touching them has a name in the chapter. Which is it?

    • a) A laboratory thermometer
    • b) A clinical thermometer
    • c) A mercury thermometer
    • d) A non-contact, or infrared, thermometer

  8. 8.What liquid does the chapter say a laboratory thermometer generally holds?

    • a) Air on its own
    • b) Alcohol coloured red, or mercury
    • c) Oil coloured green
    • d) Water coloured blue

Answer key — Year 6 Science — Temperature and its measurement

  1. 1.
    • 37
    • 37.0
  2. 2. b) The liquid column starts to fall the moment it is taken out
  3. 3. c) 98.6 °F
  4. 4. thermometer
  5. 5. a) Touch is not a reliable way to decide how hot something is
  6. 6. b) 35 °C and 42 °C
  7. 7. d) A non-contact, or infrared, thermometer
  8. 8. b) Alcohol coloured red, or mercury