optical pyrometer
1
8.8
- noun
- /ˈɑptɪkəl paɪˈrɑːmɪtər/
- Specialized
- Because of steelmaking's high temperatures, fabricators often use non-contact optical pyrometers to measure temperature.
Examples
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To ensure safety, the engineers utilized an optical pyrometer to measure the temperature of the molten metal.
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The scientist relied on an optical pyrometer to accurately gauge the heat of the burning sample during the experiment.
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During the manufacturing process, technicians checked the temperature with an optical pyrometer to maintain quality control.
Synonyms
1
9.8
An instrument that measures very high temperatures in furnaces and kilns
A device that measures very high temperatures by looking at the color of light from hot objects
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'pyrometer' denotes an instrument for measuring high temperatures and 'optical' specifies that it uses light/optical principles, so together they denote a temperature-measuring device that works by optical means. This adjective+noun compound follows regular English formation and is cross-linguistically transparent, so a learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Optical pyrometer comes from a simple image: optical means 'using light' and pyrometer means 'a tool for measuring very hot things'. The device looks at the glowing color of a hot object and compares it to a known standard, so it can tell the temperature without touching the metal.