Objekt 19
Column thermometer with hygrometer
Description
A hygrometer is a device for measuring the humidity of the air. In this, almost joking device, a thermometer is held by a figure of a monk, with the movable hood of the monk's cowl serving as the hygrometer. The hood was attached to a material that reacted to moisture (gut string, missing here) and changed its position according to the humidity of the air. The development of hygrometers was difficult because for a long time it was not clear which materials had the best hygroscopic properties, namely to react to changes in humidity of the air by a reversible change in volume.
Object description
probably Basel, around 1800
red alcohol in glass capillary, wood, paper, painted, gut string missing
Purchase around 1810 by Prof. Daniel Wolleb
Deposit Institute of Physics of the University of Basel, Phys. 8/1.
Inv. 1986.415.