Mercury-in-glass thermometer and public health by decreasing the amount of mercury waste released. The HPA had, in 2007, released a guide to dealing with small spills of mercury. In the United States, both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the United States Environmental Protection Agency recommend that alternative thermometers be used in the home. Mercury-in-glass thermometer The mercury-in-glass or mercury thermometer was invented by physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit in Amsterdam (1714). It consists of a bulb containing mercury attached to a glass tube of narrow diameter; the volume of mercury in the tube is much less than the volume in the bulb.
Reversing thermometer Reversing thermometer Unlike most conventional mercury thermometers, a reversing thermometer is able to record a given temperature to be viewed at a later time. If the thermometer is flipped upside down, the current temperature will be shown until it is turned upright again. This was the primary device used by oceanographers to determine water temperatures below the surface of the ocean from around 1900 to 1970. It consists of a conventional bulb connected to a capillary in which a constriction is placed so that upon reversal the mercury column breaks off in a reproducible manner. The mercury runs down into