Are alcohol thermometers, mercury thermometers, and digital thermometers equally accurate?
The can be made to be equally accurate. People like to use the digitals for the ease of reading them and the accuracy that is provided by not having to hold the thermo away from the source to read it. The alcohol and mercury thermos can be equally accurate. The mercury I think is a bit more expensive and of late, there is some concern over the potential health effects caused by mercury vapour when the thing breaks. In most cases, you get what you pay for. If you want research quality temperature readings, then you need to buy a research quality thermometer. You can’t get them at the drugstore.
