Water Thermometers

As an introduction to our unit on particle theory and heat, we did an experiment. All science experiments begin with a question, and our question was: can we make a thermometer using water?

We made the following equipment and tested it in hot water and outside in the minus 15 degree winter. We observed our results and wrote up our experiment in proper scientific format.

For most students, the water thermometer did work. Students needed to think about why this was the case. What was going on with the water?