Temperature

Temperature

WHAT IS TEMPERATURE ?

Temperature is the degree of hotness or coldness of a body or object. Temperature, (denoted using the Greek alphabet, theta θ) determines (along with other properties) the heat energy present in a body.

Temperature values are within a range depicting various levels of hot and cold. These range varies depending on the scale. There are three common scales for temperature measurement; Celsius (0 to 100), Fahrenheit (32 to 212) and Kelvin (273.15 to 373) .

Temperature is measured with the use of thermometers. There are different types of thermometers. These different thermometers measure "thermometric variables" which respond to changes in temperature. These thermometers and the thermometric values that are measured include;

  • the liquid-in-glass thermometer (volume);
    These type of thermometer works with the principle of thermal expansion of liquid. That is why mercury or alcohol is used, rather than water. It is used quite inexpensive to afford and can be used at homes and hospitals.

  • constant volume gas (pressure);
    These type of thermometers work on the principle of increased pressure with increase in temperature. These guys are used to calibrate other thermometers.

  • bimetallic strip (coil pitch);
    The bimetallic strip. It is built on the principle of difference in coefficients of thermal expansion (between two metals that are joined together). When the temperature rises, the strip will turn in the direction of metal with the lower temperature coefficient. When the temperature decreases, the strip bends in the direction of metal having a higher temperature coefficient. It has applications in different electrical appliances.

  • the resistance thermometers (resistance);
    The electrical resistivity of metals or metal oxides varies with temperature change. The resistance thermometers measure that resistivity. These thermometers are capable of measuring the temperature accurately and measuring very low temperatures. But are not suited for high-temperature measurement In general, resistance thermometers are used for measuring environmental temperatures. These resistance thermometers are most widely used for industrial measurement due to their large change in resistance values with temperature and due to their high stability and accuracy.

  • thermocouple (voltage);
    The thermocouple is an electrical temperature measurement equipment. It is made by connecting two combined dissimilar meatals to a volameter which records the voltage when one end of the combined metals is heated. It has applications in practically every setting and it has a high range of temperature measurement.

On thematic maps (of temperature), lines that connect areas of equal temperature values are called Isotherm. It can be transferred by convection, radiation and conduction.

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The Temperature of the Earth

Temperature is measure of hotness and coldness. And in this universe where balance is of the essence, hotness and coldness is always in the state of transfer. This is such that, even though different geographies favour relatively intense temperatures at different locations, there is always transfer of this temperature from the hotter bodies to the colder ones.

This is why ice melts in hot seasons, and we can adapt to the cold in the wet and winter seasons.

Global temperature for 2022 was 15°C (59°F; 288K) Since the beginning of global temperature measurement in 1880 up to 1940, the average annual temperature has increased by 0.2°C. The temperature was then stable between 1940 and 1970. And it has been increasing again since 1970 by 0.18°C each decade. The average global temperature has increased by 0.9°C (1.5°F) compared to the baseline temperature which is about 14°C. Although a pause has been observed between 1998 and 2013, the global warming continues since at the same pace as before. (source: Wikipedia)

Temperature of the earth is determined by a number of factors. Factors which can be grouped into two encompassing factors;

  • solar radiation: this is the major input of thermal energy to the earth's surface. It decreases from the equator, polewards.
    This phenomenon is evident in higher average temperarures in the tropics (25 to 28°C ;77 to 82°F), than places outside the tropics.
    Solar radiation is the primary source of heat to the earth's surface, water bodies.

  • physical geography of the earth: this reflects the effects of wind circulation and energy transfer between the hydrosphere, lithosphere and atmosphere. The geography of the world does not add hotness or coldness to the world by itself, but it distributes the energy coming from the sun in the processes of ocean circulation, the hydrologic cycle, cloud actions (scatter, reflection and absorption) and wind movement.
    It facilitates climate change. How? Since the earth is a closed system (i.e it allows energy to be exchanged with the space around it, but prevents matter from doing thesame with the space around it) CO2 which knows how to hold heat and is released by our activites is held within the earth's atmosphere, and this causes the greenhouse effect that we now know and have come to accomodate.
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How is the earth's temperature measured?

Temperature datasets are acquired by from over 32,000 of equipments and land weather stations monitored independently by the following organizations:

  • the HadCRUT4 (The UK Met Office Hadley Centre and the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit)

  • In the US, the GISTEMP series (which comes via the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Sciences (GISS))

  • the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) creates the MLOST record

  • Berkeley Earth, a non profit organization in California, and

  • The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA)

The tools used for capturing temperature data include


  • land weather stations

  • weather balloons

  • radar

  • ships and buoys,

  • satellites, and

  • volunteer weather watchers.

The following temperature values are measured for a variety of purposes.

  • near-surface air temperature (used for climate change);

  • ground surface and sub-surface temperatures;

  • temperature of the atmosphere;

  • sea-surface and deep ocean temperatures.

But global temperature is gotten from averaging the daily, weekly and monthly values of near-surface air temperature of both land and sea, of thousands of locations across the world.

The near-surface air temperature is useful for determining global temperature because it represent the temperature conditions under which most weather activities occur on earth. It is the most affected region of all earth's physical and human activities (and sure, we would like to know the effects of our activities on our immediate environment).
It is also more apt (theoretically speaking) for describing earth's temperature because each temperature value can serve as the average temperature value for that point. This is because deep sea and high altitude temperatures can be too extreme.

Although, there are locations for which there is no temperature data; these places are made up for by assigning the nearest neighbour temperature value to these locations.

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How Temperature affects life around us

Life around us can be categorized into physical and human life. Physical life refers to the life of plants and animals as well as the cycles of non-living things. While physical life refers to yours and my life

We will begin with the effects on physical life:

  1. Temperature fosters leaching of soil nutrients.
  2. Temperature causes evaporation and other weather processes.
  3. It causes ocean circulation in the process of upwelling.
  4. Temperature also affects wind circulation.
  5. The average temperature of anywhere over time is an indication of the prevailing climate of that place.
  6. Temperature differences across different parts on a defined area of land improves biodiversity.
  7. It also leads to rock weathering.

And on the human front, although we have technologies

that help us battle the elements, these natural phenomena still play roles that can affect our life:
  1. Temperature can affect migration and settlement pattern.
  2. Temperature determines the general clothing outfit in a region.
  3. It can also dictate the crop to be grown on a farmland, or the type of commercial activity that goes on in a location.
  4. Depending on the extremity of it, temperature affects the population and population of locations.
  5. Temperature can influence a person's comfortability and productivity.

And there are consequent effects of temperature and the effects of it on different aspects:

  1. First of all, traffic congestions only occur in places where the temperature favours a high population.
  2. Thesame goes for high crime rate and slum dwellings.
  3. The mountains, thanks to snow from very low temperatures, in addition to the terrain, are good sites for extreme sports. (I've been wondering what fun sports one can do during hammattern).
  4. Neccessity is the mother of invention. Thanks to the presence of unbearable temperatures, man has been able to harness its scientific knowledge to making themselves comfortable in any weather condition.
  5. Temperature has made some places of these world natural resorts (Hawaii), and others, research bases (Antarctica).
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