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CBSE Class 6 · Science

Temperature and its Measurement

Official NCERT chapter from Curiosity (book code fecu1). ExamMaster notes are original teaching at CBSE Class 6 depth.

This lesson follows the official chapter “Temperature and its Measurement” in Curiosity. The words below are ExamMaster’s teaching, not a paste from the book. Use the NCERT chapter for the classroom sequence; use these notes to hold the idea without copying exercises or figures.

  • CBSE Class 6
  • Easy level
  • 8 concepts

1Hot or Cold?

A hand can say “this water feels hotter than that”. That is a sense. Two hands that just held ice and tea will lie about the same bowl. Sense is a start; it is not the measurement.

Calling the room “hot” without a number is a feeling-word.

Figure. The same hand calls tea hot and tap water cold. That is a feeling, not a number you can write or compare tomorrow.

How it works

  1. Touch only what is safe to touchA sense.
  2. Compare two safe objects if you canWarmer, cooler.
  3. Admit the sense can fool youReady for a thermometer.

2Temperature

Temperature is a number on a scale that says how hot. It is not the same as “how much heat energy” — a spark can be high temperature and still small. At this class, keep it as the thermometer’s reading.

A longer time on the stove is not automatically a higher temperature-reading if you never read it.

Figure. Temperature is the degree of hotness written on one scale. Ice is 0 °C, a healthy body is about 37 °C, and steam at one atmosphere is 100 °C.

How it works

  1. Name temperature as a readingA number plus a unit.
  2. Keep it separate from “lots of cooking”Time on the stove is another fact.
  3. Write the unitUsually °C here.

3Measuring Temperature

Measuring means a thermometer, enough time to settle, and a read at eye level. Pulling it out too soon is a rushed number.

A photo of a thermometer is not this reading.

Figure. A thermometer is a bulb plus a column beside a numbered scale. The column height is the reading; write the unit with the number.

How it works

  1. Place the bulb where you were toldWater, air, or under the tongue — as instructed.
  2. Wait for the settleThe column stops moving.
  3. Read the scale with the unitThe measurement.

A settled column

A laboratory thermometer in warm water stops near the 42 mark on a °C scale. What do you record?

  • Settlecolumn not moving
  • Mark42
  • Record42 °C

Pro tip. The unit travels with the number. 42 alone is mute.

4Clinical thermometer

A clinical thermometer is built for a body range — typically a short window around human temperature — and often has a kink so the column stays for you to read. It is not for boiling water.

Using a clinical thermometer in a beaker of hot water can break it.

Figure. A clinical thermometer only runs from 35 °C to 42 °C. The kink above the bulb holds the reading so you can take the stem out of the mouth and still see 37 °C.

How it works

  1. See the short rangeBody-window.
  2. Read after the time you were toldThen, if it has a kink, you can take it out to read.
  3. Never use it as a lab heater-probeWrong tool.

5Laboratory thermometer

A laboratory thermometer has a wider range for class experiments. The column usually falls when you take it out — read it while the bulb is still in the liquid (or as instructed).

Treating it like a clinical kink-thermometer is a miss.

Figure. A laboratory thermometer is a long scale, often −10 °C to 110 °C, and it has no kink. Read it while the bulb is still in the liquid; it is not a body thermometer.

How it works

  1. Leave the bulb in the liquidWhile you read, unless told otherwise.
  2. Use it for class liquids, not as a mouth thermometerWrong tool the other way.
  3. Read the unit on its scale°C here.

6Air temperature

Air temperature is the reading of a thermometer in the air, out of the sun and off a hot wall if you want the air, not the wall. Shade versus sun is a different place-test.

A thermometer on a black car roof is not “the day’s air” without a label.

Figure. Air temperature is the reading of a thermometer that sits in the air and in the shade. Direct sun heats the glass and is not the air’s temperature.

How it works

  1. Hang or stand the thermometer in the airThe place.
  2. Avoid a sun-baked surface if you mean shade-airPlace-test.
  3. Record number, unit, and place32 °C in the shade.

7A sense of hot is not a measurement

The hand that left ice says the tap is burning. The thermometer may say the tap is mild. Trust the settled reading over the story of the hand.

Arguing “I felt it” against a working thermometer is this miss.

Figure. A hand that just left ice-water calls tepid water hot. A thermometer still reads the same 37 °C. Measurement is the number plus the unit, not the feeling.

How it works

  1. Notice the senseA clue.
  2. Take a thermometer readingThe measurement.
  3. If they disagree, keep the reading and name the sense as fooledIce-hand.

8A scale needs a unit and a zero you can read

°C is the usual classroom unit. The marks only work if you can see where they start and what each dash means. A cracked scale you cannot read is not a number you should invent.

Guessing between marks without a method is a story.

Figure. A scale is usable only when you can see its zero and its unit. On Celsius the ice point is 0 °C and the steam point is 100 °C; a bare 37 is not a temperature.

How it works

  1. Find the unit printed on the tool°C.
  2. Find a zero or a numbered mark you can seeA start.
  3. Read; if you cannot see the marks, say you cannotHonest.
A clinical thermometer is for
  1. A body-range reading — not boiling water
  2. A beaker on a burner
  3. Air on a car roof only

Wrong tool if the range is wrong.

Notes

  • Mapped to the official NCERT chapter “Temperature and its Measurement”. Original teaching only — no textbook sentences.
  • Science here is Physics, Chemistry and Biology ideas at this class, never a language or social-science chapter.

Formulas

  • Temperature record = number + unit (usually °C)

Recap

Hold these pegs from the official chapter “Temperature and its Measurement”. The wording is ExamMaster’s teaching, not a textbook recap.

Hot or Cold?
A hand can say “this water feels hotter than that”.
Temperature
Temperature is a number on a scale that says how hot.
Measuring Temperature
Measuring means a thermometer, enough time to settle, and a read at eye level.
Clinical thermometer
A clinical thermometer is built for a body range — typically a short window around human temperature — and often has a kink so the column stays for you to read.
Laboratory thermometer
A laboratory thermometer has a wider range for class experiments.
Air temperature
Air temperature is the reading of a thermometer in the air, out of the sun and off a hot wall if you want the air, not the wall.

Practise Temperature and its Measurement

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  • A 4-question practice set that ends the chapter
  • 1 quick check with worked explanations
  • Timed mocks scored with the real marking scheme
  • Readiness tracked per topic, kept on your device
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