The Learning Center

For professionals and other serious users of ThermoWorks products, here you'll find a growing collection of technical articles, tips, videos and other resources to help you do your job. Find info on instrumentation, sensors, measurement and control, calibration and a variety of commercial applications.
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Calibration Methods and Traceability
Calibration Methods and Traceability Directives or standards often require organizations to provide accurate temperature measurements traceable to national or international standards. Thermometer calibration is important because it is an integral part of quality assurance in industry, ensures effective testing in laboratories and protects the public in matters of food safety. Each time a thermometer is calibrated, the process should be documented. A calibration done without a certificate can be called into question. Many suppliers of food safety and industrial thermometers don't include calibration services, which means third-party testers have to... Read Now
Basic Thermometry Concepts: Reproducibility
Basic Thermometry Concepts: Reproducibility The history of thermometry helps draw attention to some of the basic challenges in recording and using accurate temperature information. Adopting a universal scale (whether Fahrenheit, Celsius, Kelvin, Rankine or the more obscure Delisle, Réaumur or Rømer scales) makes the establishment of scientific standards possible, as well as the direct comparison of relative temperature data from place to place and instrument to instrument. It also hints at the importance of "reproducibility" in thermometry. A thermometer measuring the ice point of water should read 32°F (or 0°C)... Read Now
Basic Thermometry Concepts: Speed
Basic Thermometry Concepts: Speed Speed, or "response time," is a very important consideration when choosing a thermometer. Some thermometer technologies are faster than others, and depending on the application, additional seconds (or fractions of a second) can make all the difference. Response time can be affected by many factors, including the position of the sensor relative to the substance being measured, the mass of the sensor itself, the speed of the processor doing the calculations, the length of the wiring between the sensor and the processor or the type of... Read Now
Temperatures Don’t Lock In
Temperatures Don’t Lock In The temperature of food is very dynamic, particularly while it is cooking, and the Thermapen® is fast and accurate enough to show minute changes in the temperature while they occur. The tip of the Thermapen probe can be pushed through food helping you find the coolest part of the center and can show differences in temperature from one spot to another (different parts of a whole Turkey can differ by as much as 20°F [11°C]). While it can take up to 1 second for Thermapen ONE... Read Now
Basic Thermometry Concepts: Range
Basic Thermometry Concepts: Range Resolution, accuracy and reproducibility form the foundation of thermometer technology but there are other important considerations when choosing an instrument. Range describes the upper and lower limits of a thermometers' measurement scale. Different thermometer technologies tend to perform best in different ranges of measurement. Some specialize at very, very hot temps or very, very cold ones. Some have a broader range. It's not uncommon for a thermometer to have different accuracy or resolution specifications in the center of its range than it does at its outer... Read Now
Basic Thermometry Concepts: Thermometer Technologies
Basic Thermometry Concepts: Thermometer Technologies As we have discussed previously, there are thermometers that measure many different types of physical characteristics, but the five most common include: liquid expansion devices, bi-metallic devices, resistance temperature devices (RTD's and thermistors), thermocouples and infrared radiation devices. Bi-metals have dial displays. The dial is connected to a spring coil at the center of the probe. The spring coil is made of two different types of metal that expand in different (yet predictable) ways when exposed to heat. The expansion of the coil with heat... Read Now