Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I plan on doing the Maggot Mass Temperature experiment that can be found on this website. However, there is an aspect of the project that is keeping me from actually going through with it:

The process requires that I take the temperature of the maggot mass every hour. However, since I am a high school student, this is practically impossible for me to do. Is there an inexpensive digital thermometer, preferably under $10-15, out there that can record the temperature of the mass every hour I'm not there?

By the way, in case you need to refer to the experiment I'm talking about, I placed the link to it below the dotted line for convenience.



Thank you.


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https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p023.shtml

I would suggest an instant read meat thermometer (both F and C scale) that costs about $15.00.
Temperatures can be read twice per day (before and after classes) and more frequently during the weekends or breaks to more closely comply with the protocol.

Good luck,

Matthew W. Mulanax, Ph.D.

I found some thermometers that you can set an alarm to so that they go off every hour. These thermometers are somewhat expensive and someone would need to be there every hour to record the temperature. Since you are a high school student this would be impossible to do. I would change the procedure so that you record the temperature only three maybe four times a day; once in the morning before school, once in the afternoon right after school, once in the evening, and once before bed. If you record the temperature exactly at the same time everyday and state these times in your procedure you should have no problem. If you want to be a little creative perhaps on the weekend you could record the temperature every hour, but you wouldn't have to.