Question

Water cannot be used as a liquid in a thermometer since it has:
A. higher freezing point and low boiling point than other thermometric liquids
B. lower freezing points and higher boiling point than other thermometric liquids
C. low specific capacity
D. transparent color

Answer 1

Hint: During boiling, the water molecules need a higher amount of energy in order to break the bond. Therefore water is having a high boiling point. When freezing takes place, the water molecules are losing energy and will not vibrate or move around as this much heavily. This permits more stable hydrogen-bonds to be created in between water molecules. Here there is less amount of energy to break these bonds. Therefore water expands when it freezes, and ice floats above the water.

Complete step-by-step solution:
Water is not able to be used as a thermometer liquid because of its higher freezing point and lower boiling point than the other liquids in general. If water is used in a thermometer, it will start phase variation at $0{}^\circ C$ and $100{}^\circ C$. This will not help in measuring temperature, beyond this range. This range is very negligible as compared to other liquids like mercury which has a freezing point of about $-39{}^\circ C$ and boiling point $356{}^\circ C$.

Therefore the correct answer is option A.

Note: The thermometric liquids which are used in thermometers are having certain kinds of properties. They should be having a low heat capacity. It should be a good conductor of heat also, then only the temperature variations can be visible. The liquid should have a large temperature coefficient of expansion and also the expansion should be uniform. The liquid should be having high surface tension as it is not meant to be volatile.