And I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know...

("Ain't No Sunshine," by Bill Withers, 1971)

 

Having recently completed the PTOA Heat Transfer Focus Study Area, PTOA Readers and Students will easily breeze through the list of Temperature Measurement Must-Knows.

The first part of the Temperature Measurement Must-Knows is featured in this PTOA Segment #95 and is concluded in the upcoming PTOA Segment #96.

 

1. THE DEFINITION OF TEMPERATURE (REVIEWED)

Temperature is "a relative sense of hotness or coldness," a definition first mentioned way back in PTOA Segment #1 entitled "How Hot is Hot?"

PTOA Readers and Students that are reading the PTOA Segments in the intended sequential order already know that a material achieves a degree of hotness ... aka temperature ... by having heat transferred into it via the three methods of heat transfer featured in the recently completed PTOA Focus Study Area on Heat Transfer.

Although related, Temperature was differentiated from Heat in PTOA Segment #59 entitled "I'm So Hot 4 & Ur So Cold."

From this point onward Your Mentor will expect all PTOA Readers and Students to know that a "change in temperature" really just gauges "a change in the heat energy transferred into or out of the material."

 

2. TEMPERATURE IS A PHYSICAL PROPERTY

In PTOA Segment #60 entitled "I Am The Walrus," PTOA Readers and Students learned all about how Stuff (aka "matter" and "mass") is made from bonding the basic elements found on earth together.

Temperature is a physical property of Stuff.

Groups of physical properties are featured in the below graphic.

Because "temperature" is too broad of a physical property descriptor, the physical properties related to temperature shown in the above graphic are listed as "Boiling Point" and "Melting Point."

Astute PTOA Readers and Students might even argue that "Freezing Point," "Condensation Point," and "Sublimation Point" could also be listed as physical properties.

The easiest way to think about a physical property is to imagine a chunk of any kind of Stuff.

Then break off a small piece of Stuff from the big chunk of Stuff.

Physical properties will be the same for the small chunk of stuff as for the big chunk of Stuff.

Physical properties differ from chemical properties. Examples of chemical properties of Stuff are the tendency to spontaneously combust or react with other types of Stuff to make totally different Stuff.

After totally different Stuff is formed from chemical reactions, the new Stuff has physical properties that define the physical attributes of the new chemical substance.

The above graphic that featured physical properties was from a big-picture "test the Stuff in the lab" point of view.

The below graphic lists physical properties of Stuff at the atomic level, so a physicist like Einstein would have to use much more complicated equipment and much more complicated procedures to deduce the physical properties and orientation of the protons, neutrons, and electrons that make up Stuff.

The graphic is only shown to make PTOA Readers and Students aware that electrical conductivity is also a physical property of Stuff.

That fact is a must-know because changes in electrical conductivity caused by temperature changes are used by some types of temperature measuring devices to infer a temperature.

 

3. MORE TEMPERATURE = MORE AGITATION AND MOLECULAR ACTIVITY!

Who doesn't get more agitated the hotter and hotter a hot, humid day gets?

That is because you, too, are made up of molecules and molecules get agitated and excited when heat is transferred into them which raises the temperature of the molecules.

 

No joke, everybody's temperature increases or decreases according to their mood and emotions.

The below graphic maps the colors associated with changes in body temperatures that were experienced when the participants considered several basic and complex emotions.

Voila! Lifelike "emoticons" are generated.

According to the scale on the right side of the graphic:

• Yellow Areas = Hot Anger/Hot Love Emotions, + 8 to +15 degrees.
• Black Areas = No Emotion, 0 degrees.
• Royal Blue Areas =  Cold Temperature Downer Emotions, -5 to -8 degrees
• Light Blue Areas = Coagulated Blood/Bummer Emotions, -8 to -15 degrees

Conclusion:

The temperature profile of a human being rises and falls with hot-inducing and cold-inducing emotions just like heat transferred into any material causes a rise in temperature and heat removed from any material causes a decrease in temperature.

PTOA Readers and Students have already learned that heated, non-living molecules conduct their heat through nearby cooler molecules by bumping into them.

The below graphic was first introduced in PTOA Segment 62 entitled "Can't Touch This!" which featured how heat transfer by conduction works.

In summary,

an increase or decrease in temperature is related to the transfer of heat into or out of the substance ... be it living or non living!

 

4. COMMON TEMPERATURE SCALES: DEG C and DEG F

Common temperature scales were created so that everyone would have the same relative sense of exactly "How hot is hot?" and exactly "How cold is cold?" (Refer to PTOA Segment #1 entitled "How Hot is Hot?").

Two commonly used scales were developed to measure temperature (when pressure was held at ambient pressure of 1 atm ... don't fret about that detail now).

The Centigrade/Celsius scale defined the freezing point of water at 0 °C and the boiling point of water at 100 °C.  Then the scale was divided up into 100 equal segments to generate a single degree C.

The Fahrenheit scaled decided that water froze at 32 °F and boiled at 212 °F. Then the scale was divvied up by 180 equal segments to generate a single degree F.

In the not-so-olden days Your Mentor had to test Process Technology students to make certain they could proficiently convert between °C and °F.

Nowadays, using a temperature conversion application or calc is the way to go. Convert C to F and Vice Versa Here and give thanks to MathisFun.com!

Part 2 of Temperature Measurement Must-Knows follows!

 

TAKE HOME MESSAGES: This PTOA Segment #95 featured facts all PTOA Readers ands Students must understand about temperature to gain future core competency understanding how the Process Variable Temperature is measured in the process industries.

Temperature is a physical property that helps describe the attributes of matter/mass (aka Stuff). Temperature is used to describe when phase changes will occur, for example "Boiling Point, Melting Point," etc.

One important physical property of matter/mass (aka Stuff) is electrical conductivity. Since the physical property of electrical conductivity changes with temperature, this property can be used to infer a process stream temperature.

Chemical properties of matter will be featured in a future PTOA Focus Study Area concerning Reactors and Chemical Reactions.

All increases in temperature are the outcome of heat getting transferred into the atoms that matter/mass/stuff is made out of which causes the atoms to get agitated and bump into each other. The more heat absorbed, the greater the frequency that atoms bump into each other ... which increases the temperature ... yadda yadda yadda. 

The two common temperature scales (Centigrade/Celsius and Fahrenheit) make it possible for everybody to have the same concept of how hot is hot and how cold is cold.

©2016 PTOA Segment 00095
PTOA Process Variable Temperature Focus Study Area
PTOA Process Industry Automation Focus Study Area

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