Hobbies And Interests
Outdoor Thermometer
The outdoor thermometer is a weather instrument that reads the temperature of the air outside. Outdoor thermometers come in three types; the bimetalic strip thermometer, the digital thermometer and the bulb thermometer. The Bimetalic strip outdoor thermometer is made from a coil that looks like a spring. The coil has two metal metal pieces that read the temperature outside by expanding or contracting at different rates. The bulb outdoor thermometer is the more common type of outdoor thermometer. It is usually made of glass with a mercury filling. The mercury changes in volume with the rising of the temperature. This means that the mercury goes down with the decrease in temperature and goes up with the increase. The problem with this type of thermometer is the mercury content. Mercury is a highly poisonous and toxic substance that can cause serious health hazards if it leaks out of the glass or the glass shatters. The digital outdoor thermometer is a thermistor that adjusts its resistance level according to the temperature.
Rain Guage
A rain gauge, also called a pluviometer, a udometer or an ombrometer, is an outdoor weather instrument used by hydrologists and meteorologists to collect and measure the level of liquid precipitation over a determined period of time. Usually, rain gauges measure such precipitation in millimeters, although rainfall levels are sometimes reported in centimeters or inches. There are four types of rain gauges; weighing rain gauge, standard rain gauge, digital rain gauge and decorative rain gauge. For rain gauges to work, they have to be placed in open areas where there are no obstructions so that water collected on objects like trees and houses do not drip into the rain gauge and give false readings. The problem with rain gauges is that they do not work very well when the temperature is near or below freezing because the water may freeze and block the opening of the funnel.
Wind Vane
A wind vane is an outdoor weather instrument that is used to indicate the direction of the wind. The wind vane is both functional and decorative in that it usually features motifs like arrows, a horse and the more common cockerel. Most wind vanes have pointers in the form of arrows or letters representing the points of the compass. For a wind vane to work properly, it has to be positioned in a place where there are no obstructions so as to prevent interference with wind flow. Wind direction can be used to make simple weather forecasts.