A critical factor in heat transfer investigations is equipment choice.  There are several instruments available for temperature measurement; some are available commercially, and others can be easily constructed in the laboratory.  As a part of this workshop, each participant constructed a thermocouple in the laboratory.  

• Standard Glass Thermometers
• Advantage:  Inexpensive

• Easy to read
• Damage resistant
• Disadvantage:  more expensive

• Junction of two dissimilar metals which has a voltage output 
• Attach to temperature unit with digital read-out for easy use
• Can attach multiple thermocouples to one unit with several channels
• Can be purchased or constructed in the lab
• Disadvantage:  the instrumentation can be expensive

Thermocouples attached to 6-channel unit 

• A transponder, programmed with animal-specific information, is implanted into the animal of interest
• Transponder transmits temperature and animal information a distance of 2" - 4"
• Disadvantage:  Invasive method of temperature measurement  

• Objects produce thermal radiation in the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum
• Infrared radiation is detected and converted into visible light of different light intensities and colors
• The proportion of  colors can be quantified and the overall temperature of the object determined
• Advantage:  IR Thermography is non-contact and non-intrusive (images can be scanned for objects that it would not be possible to touch with a temperature probe)
• Disadvantage:  IR Thermography may be cost-prohibitive for many academic laboratories

Infrared Thermography picture of House Sparrow; Red indicates higher temperature, dark blue indicates lower temperature.