The thermometric property of mercury is best on the change in

Answer Details

A thermometric property is any physical property that varies measurably, continuously and reproducibly with temperature, so that its value can be used as a scale of temperature. Different thermometers exploit different properties: a constant-volume gas thermometer uses pressure, a resistance thermometer uses electrical resistance, a thermocouple uses emf, and a liquid-in-glass thermometer uses the expansion of the liquid.

Mercury is used in liquid-in-glass thermometers, where the mercury is sealed in a bulb attached to a fine capillary tube. As the temperature rises the mercury expands, and because the bore is narrow a small increase in the volume of mercury produces a long, easily read movement of the thread. The property being used is therefore the change of volume with temperature, and mercury suits the job because it expands almost uniformly over a wide range (\(-39\,^\circ\text{C}\) to \(357\,^\circ\text{C}\)), is opaque and easily seen, is a good conductor of heat so it responds quickly, and does not wet glass.

Density does change with temperature, but only as a consequence of the volume change at fixed mass, and density is not what the instrument reads; the length of the mercury thread is a direct measure of volume. Pressure change belongs to gas thermometers, and resistance change belongs to platinum resistance thermometers, not to mercury in glass. When a question names a specific thermometric substance, identify the instrument it is used in first, because the instrument fixes which property is being measured.