The (Arguably) Most Important Instrument in Physics

Thermometers might seem like a basic instrument, but science would not be the same without them, and they helped us understand one of the most important ideas in all of science: the conservation of energy.

Hosted by: Hank Green

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[Sciencerely]

What did the thermometer say to the graduated cylinder?








"You may have graduated, but I've got hundreds of degrees"


I know right

[saamady]

I just want to point of that coolth is an actual word. (It's the opposite of warmth.)

[clutchyfinger]

Probably the most important instrument in racing too. Eveything about how you set up a racecar is affected by engineers/drivers reading thermometers and opening the car for cooling, which affects aerodynamics, which affects how you set up the suspension. Especially brake ducts because the heat radiates to the tires, which often have small windows of operating temperatures and pressures. There are dozens of small sensors sending temperature readings to the driver/engineers in modern racecars.

[imhonestcompassionateandcr]

A thermometer is a speedometer for atoms.

[tesseraph]

I needed this video. I remember taking an intermediate thermodynamics course a couple years back in college and being awestruck by thermometers...and going off about them to my significant other...whom I failed to convince.

Granted, for most people thermometers and temperature and heat have such everyday, dull associations for most people that it's distinctly difficult to convince them that thermodynamics contains anything of substance when in fact it's super interesting and mind-blowing.

[mediawolf]

1:08 In the early 1800s, physicists thought “energy” only meant “movement”
5:51 Joule’s experiments helped found Thermodynamics, the science of how energy moves around
😏

[janellabaxter]

Hasok Chang's Inventing Temperature is one of the best pieces of history and philosophy of science.

[OtavioVeras]

"A rare combination of careful, clever and persistent". I like that.

[affinityforanime]

I actually remember learning this whole story about Joule in my high school chemistry class. Wasn't Joule a brewer, which is why he had a passion for thermometers? So he could precisely measure and control the manufacture of his beer?

[Dirk_Mcgurk]

You are my favorite person on this channel Hank

[JustinY.]

Imagine needing mercury for a thermometer

This comment was made by non toxic metal thermometer gang

[nafrost]

It is really hard overestimate the importance of the concept of energy today.
One of the derivation of the ideal gas law involves the concept of energy.
Energy is also a major part of the interpretation of the schrodinger equation, one of the most important early equation in quantum mechanics.
Energy is also a key part of lagrangian mechanics an alternative model to newtonian mechanics, and of course we can't froget the famous E=mc^2 (which is by the way just a special case of a more genral fomula).
There are endless ways in which energy and energy conservetion help us in modern day physics.

[vickyceledon]

I SAW that Delete This Reference and I cant believe you said that on SciShow!!! (frickin true-true train!!)

[fosterlewis]

Best video I’ve seen in a good while! Somehow my physics courses in college never covered any of this. I am so grateful for this knowledge! Much love!

[kca_randy]

True, True train is awesome .Nice Hank

[neigeepierrot]

Incredible how something as simple as a thermometer could help us learn so many things

[masterimbecile]

It took me a hot minute to think of a cool joke, and yet the responses I got were ... measured, at best.

[grindsession]

"Alright, honesty time. Here comes the True True train." Funniest thing that's ever been spoken 😂

[emilyjanet]

I'M SO FRIGGIN HAPPY YOU USED THE TERM "TRU TRU TRAIN"

[aaronstevens]

I love you guys please keep the videos coming you get me thru my work days