5 ms·

that's for a very specific reason: improved accuracy. Let me explain: measurements were usually taken externally from armpits, using analog mercury thermometer

that's for a very specific reason: improved accuracy. Let me explain: measurements were usually taken externally from armpits, using analog mercury thermometers, which results in temperatures lower than the actual one by ~0.5 degrees Celsius. If you read the instruction manual of modern digital thermometers, that are more accurate, it states that Oral Time: ~55 seconds Typical temperature interval: 35,5~37,5 °C Anal Time: ~45 seconds Typical temperature interval: 36,6~38 °C Armpit Time: ~70 seconds Typical temperature interval: 34,7~37,3 °C An example (PDF / Italian) https://www.doctorpoint.it/images/deplian/docp-pdf10956.pdf https://www.doctorpoint.it/images/deplian/docp-pdf10956.pdf The science has always been sound, even in Italy. My parents worked in healthcare, I never had the chance to skip school unless the thermometers said > 37.5 °C and after a double check with both palms on my forehead because I warmed it more than once on the radiator. The problem is Italian paranoid moms, especially from the South, believing in spooky superstitions.

jaclaz 4y ago
Personally I strongly doubt that "modern" thermometers are in practice more accurate than good ol' mercury ones. The contactless infrared ones, but also the contact digital ones have been proved to provide "false measurements", the stated accuracy is usually +/- 0.2 C, but there are many (ambient) factors that may influence greatly the result, the good thing being that they are very fast. The gallium/galistan ones (1:1 replacement for mercury ones) are often hard to read (they are almost all of the "prismatic" kind) and more often than not they simply get "stuck", and they are very, very, slow.
- peoplefromibiza 4y ago
  > Personally I strongly doubt that "modern" thermometers are in practice more accurate than good ol' mercury ones. they are not more accurate per se, the reading and calibration is. many cheap thermometer were printed with the temperature lines out of scale or shifted. they are also safer to use, it wasn't uncommon that the old ones broke while using them. Imagine the danger of a glass tube filled with mercury breaking while measuring the temperature anally or from the mouth.
  - jaclaz 4y ago
    >they are also safer to use, it wasn't uncommon that the old ones broke while using them. >Imagine the danger of a glass tube filled with mercury breaking while measuring the temperature anally or from the mouth. Oww, comeon, they are of course safer, but it is not like "it wasn't uncommon". It was (and is for the - still largely glass made - gallium ones) an extremely rare occurence that a termometer broke while in use, though they often broke when they fell accidentally and - at least according to EPA - that seems like a serious hazard: https://www.epa.gov/mercury/what-do-if-mercury-thermometer-breaks https://www.epa.gov/mercury/what-do-if-mercury-thermometer-b... I cannot find any statistics on actual cases, but judging from this article preview: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278239198909247 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S02782... they counted at the time 43 cases of mercury poisoning of which 7 related to broken thermometers while in use, and of these 7, only 1 was about thermometer broken while in the mouth affecting the oral mucosa. The reported "new" one was about a lady that had her cat striking her in the face while she was using the thermometer in her mouth.
    - peoplefromibiza 4y ago
      Please consider the fact that the World is larger than the USA and that we were talking about Italy and specifically I was talking about thermometers breaking in hospitals in Italy - a work place I've been acquainted with for 4 decades -, not about lead poisoning. Please also consider the fact that Italy is in the EU, EU made those kinds of thermometers illegal in the Union with the directive 2007/51/EC [1] that was ratified in Italy by the decree n. 245 on 18.10.2008 which basically made it illegal to sell measuring instruments containing mercury since April 3rd 2009. Mercury is considered toxic waste in EU. [1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32007L0051 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A...
      - jaclaz 4y ago
        I don't get it. Surely they were made illegal by the EU directive and the following Italian decree. That doesn't mean that people in Italian hospitals having thermometers break in the mouth (or other orifices) was "not uncommon" (possibly we use different definitions for not uncommon). Unless - of course - you can recall many cases in your 40 years of acquaintenance with hospitals in Italy. Let's say that a hospital has 100 beds and average stay is one week, that should be in the ballpark of at least 52x100x2 (temperature checks) = 10,000 measurements per year x 40 years around 400,000 uses of thermometers (possibly many more). How many of these accidents can you remember roughly (1, 10, 100, 1000)?

jaclaz 4y ago

Personally I strongly doubt that "modern" thermometers are in practice more accurate than good ol' mercury ones. The contactless infrared ones, but also the contact digital ones have been proved to provide "false measurements", the stated accuracy is usually +/- 0.2 C, but there are many (ambient) factors that may influence greatly the result, the good thing being that they are very fast. The gallium/galistan ones (1:1 replacement for mercury ones) are often hard to read (they are almost all of the "prismatic" kind) and more often than not they simply get "stuck", and they are very, very, slow.

peoplefromibiza 4y ago
> Personally I strongly doubt that "modern" thermometers are in practice more accurate than good ol' mercury ones. they are not more accurate per se, the reading and calibration is. many cheap thermometer were printed with the temperature lines out of scale or shifted. they are also safer to use, it wasn't uncommon that the old ones broke while using them. Imagine the danger of a glass tube filled with mercury breaking while measuring the temperature anally or from the mouth.
- jaclaz 4y ago
  >they are also safer to use, it wasn't uncommon that the old ones broke while using them. >Imagine the danger of a glass tube filled with mercury breaking while measuring the temperature anally or from the mouth. Oww, comeon, they are of course safer, but it is not like "it wasn't uncommon". It was (and is for the - still largely glass made - gallium ones) an extremely rare occurence that a termometer broke while in use, though they often broke when they fell accidentally and - at least according to EPA - that seems like a serious hazard: https://www.epa.gov/mercury/what-do-if-mercury-thermometer-breaks https://www.epa.gov/mercury/what-do-if-mercury-thermometer-b... I cannot find any statistics on actual cases, but judging from this article preview: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278239198909247 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S02782... they counted at the time 43 cases of mercury poisoning of which 7 related to broken thermometers while in use, and of these 7, only 1 was about thermometer broken while in the mouth affecting the oral mucosa. The reported "new" one was about a lady that had her cat striking her in the face while she was using the thermometer in her mouth.
  - peoplefromibiza 4y ago
    Please consider the fact that the World is larger than the USA and that we were talking about Italy and specifically I was talking about thermometers breaking in hospitals in Italy - a work place I've been acquainted with for 4 decades -, not about lead poisoning. Please also consider the fact that Italy is in the EU, EU made those kinds of thermometers illegal in the Union with the directive 2007/51/EC [1] that was ratified in Italy by the decree n. 245 on 18.10.2008 which basically made it illegal to sell measuring instruments containing mercury since April 3rd 2009. Mercury is considered toxic waste in EU. [1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32007L0051 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A...
    - jaclaz 4y ago
      I don't get it. Surely they were made illegal by the EU directive and the following Italian decree. That doesn't mean that people in Italian hospitals having thermometers break in the mouth (or other orifices) was "not uncommon" (possibly we use different definitions for not uncommon). Unless - of course - you can recall many cases in your 40 years of acquaintenance with hospitals in Italy. Let's say that a hospital has 100 beds and average stay is one week, that should be in the ballpark of at least 52x100x2 (temperature checks) = 10,000 measurements per year x 40 years around 400,000 uses of thermometers (possibly many more). How many of these accidents can you remember roughly (1, 10, 100, 1000)?