You Can Make a Thermometer

Conclusion

My hypothesis was, if I mix water and rubbing alcohol in a bottle and make it warm, then the liquid will no longer fit in the bottom of the bottle because the liquid expands.

All of my results supported my hypothesis. Each time the mixture was warmed up, it rose up the straw. Every time the liquid cooled off, it fell back down to the beginning liquid level in the bottle.

When I wrapped my hands around the bottle, the liquid in the bottle went up. When I put the bottle in the hot tap water, the liquid went all the way out of the straw. When I placed the bottle in the hot tub, the liquid went somewhat higher than it did when I wrapped my hands around the bottle. When I took the bottle out of the hot tub and put it in the cold pool water, the liquid went back down. When we heated the house up to 76˚, the liquid went higher than with my hands, but lower than the hot tub.

One of the problems that happened was that we had to remake the mixture every few days. The water and alcohol would lose the ability to measure temperature and we would have to remake it so that we could measure temperature again.

If I were to do this experiment again, I would mark the straw with lines to get more precise measurements. I would also make it so that the "thermometer" would measure the actual temperature.