A type of thermometer designed to measure differences in temperature rather than scale degrees. Beckmann thermometers have a larger bulb than common thermometers and a stem with a small internal diameter, so that a range of 5°C covers about 30 centimeters in the stem. The mercury bulb is connected to the stem in such a way that the bulk of the mercury can be separated from the stem once a particular 5° range has been attained. The thermometer can thus be set for any particular range of working temperature. It is named for the German chemist Ernst Otto Beckmann (1853–1923).
