A medical thermometer, also known as a clinical thermometer, is used for measuring human body temperature.

The tip of the thermometer is inserted into the mouth under the tongue (oral or sub-lingual temperature), under the armpit (axillary temperature), or into the rectum via the anus (rectal temperature) . Mercury-in-glass thermometers have been considered the most accurate liquid-filled types. However, mercury is a toxic heavy metal, and mercury has only been used in clinical thermometers if protected from breakage of the tube. The tube must be very narrow to minimize the amount of mercury in itthe temperature of the tube is not controlled, so it must contain very much less mercury than the bulb to minimize the effect of the temperature of the tubeand this makes the reading rather difficult as the narrow mercury column is not very visible. Visibility is less of a problem with a colored liquid.

A thermometer is an instrument used for measuring and indicating temperature. It is typically comprised of a narrow, hermetically-sealed glass tube that is marked with graduations. At one end, it has a bulb containing mercury or alcohol, which extends along the tube as it expands.
While an individual thermometer is able to measure degrees of hotness, the readings on two thermometers cannot be compared unless they conform to an agreed scale. There is today an absolute thermodynamic temperature scale. Internationally agreed temperature scales are designed to approximate this closely, based on fixed points and interpolating thermometers. The most recent official temperature scale is the International Temperature Scale of 1990. It extends from 0.65 K(272.5 C; 458.5 F) to approximately 1,358 K (1,085 C; 1,985 F)

In heat transfer, conduction (or heat conduction) is the transfer of heat energy by microscopic diffusion and collisions of particles or quasiparticles within a body due to a temperature gradient. The microscopically diffusing and colliding objects include molecules, electrons, atoms, and phonons. They transfer microscopically disorganized kinetic and potential energy, which are jointly known as internal energy. Conduction can only take place within an object or material, or between two objects that are in direct or indirect contact with each other. Conduction takes place in all forms of ponder able, such as solids, liquids, gases and plasmas Convection is the concerted, collective movement of ensembles of molecules within fluids (e.g., liquids, gases) and rheids. Convection of mass cannot take place in solids, since neither bulk current flows nor significant diffusion can take place in solids. Diffusion of heat can take place in solids, but is referred to separately in that case as heat conduction. A good model for convection is when you take a heat source (e.g. Bunsen burner) and place it at any side of a glass full of a liquid; you then can feel the different levels of heat in the glass Radiation is a process in which energetic particles or energetic waves travel through a vacuum, or through matter-containing media that are not required for their propagation. Waves of a mass filled medium itself, such as water waves or sound waves, are usually not considered to be forms of "radiation" in this sense.