meteorological instruments and their uses

#Meteorological instruments and their uses series

(There was an additional $1,000 expenditure for each of the two following years.) The barometer is 42 inches tall, and has a mercury thermometer on it. It was built especially for the Museum with funds provided by an Act of Legislature (March 31, 1837) that authorized the spending of $2,000 for work in meteorology and the purchase of instruments for each county of the state of Pennsylvania. The relative humidity is read at the intersection of the RH scale and the wet bulb temperature. After these readings are taken, there is a scale that is used to correlate the readings. The psychrometer is spun around rapidly for a few minutes and readings are taken from the dry and wet bulbs. A small chain on the end of the wooden handle attaches the thermometers to each other. This aneroid barometer was made in Germany and sits on an octagonal wooden base.Ī sling psychrometer, the simplest type of hygrometer, measures the relative humidity of the surrounding air by comparing the temperatures of one dry and one wet bulb thermometer. As air pressure increases, it pushes down on a metal diaphragm, which in turn causes the indicating needle to move. High or rising pressure means that clear, sunny weather is expected, while falling or low pressure is a sign of rain or an approaching storm. They weren't invented until the 1840s-years after Franklin's time. Kessler Co., Inc.Īneroid barometers are instruments used for measuring the pressure of the air in the atmosphere. This particular thermometer was made by W.H. There are many uses for a minimum-maximum thermometer one example would be to measure how low the temperature dropped in a greenhouse overnight to figure out exactly when it gets too cold for the plants or flowers to survive. This Minimum-Maximum thermometer is used to record the highest and lowest temperatures observed over a 24-hour period.

The weather instruments found in our Attic provide a glimpse at what earlier forecasters used to predict the weather, how instruments have changed and stayed the same over time, and how The Franklin Institute continues to value scientific topics that Ben himself found just as important so many years ago. It was the first institution to establish a meteorological station in the state of Pennsylvania. The Franklin Institute has long considered weather science a significant field of study.

Weather and the instruments used to measure it are still an important part of The Franklin Institute and its collections.

Franklin is particularly remembered for his kite-and-key experiments with lightning. Throughout his life, he studied various aspects of the weather and proposed models to describe the progression of storm systems across North America. Weather was a topic that continuously fascinated him, and he gave us the famous quote, 'Some are weatherwise some are otherwise.' In his lifetime, Ben Franklin made a number of discoveries and tinkered with various inventions.

Historical Weather Data for Philadelphia.

#Meteorological instruments and their uses series

WATCH: A Practical Guide to the Cosmos Video Series.Harry Potter: The Exhibition - NOW OPEN!.