Baby Thermometers

kirchwey:

It depends on the number of digits on the digital display (and thus on the value of the least significant digit or LSD), and on the range of the bulb thermometer. For instance, a typical fever thermometer of the bulb type only covers about 10 deg F and so has enough distance between the 0.2 deg marks that you can probably estimate to the nearest 0.05 deg, whereas a typical digital fever thermometer only reads out to 0.1 deg. On the other hand a laboratory digital thermometer might read to 0.001 or a smaller LSD while the bulb type may have to cover a 100 C range and you may only be able to estimate to 0.5 deg.