Question

what are the disadvantages of using a mercury barometer? How does an aneroid barometer take care of this?

Answer 1

While mercury barometers, even to this day, are the most accurate barometers, they are not without drawbacks. Trying to read a mercury barometer on board a ship caught in a hurricane is not easy. The idea for a mercury-free barometer (an aneroid barometer) first occurred to Gottfried Leibniz (coinventor of calculus) around 1700. Metallurgy was not sufficiently advanced in 1700 to realize Leibniz's idea. The French inventor Lucien Vidie developed the first practical aneroid barometer in 1843. Aneroid barometers are the most common barometers in use today. They are the circular, brass, clock-like instruments with a sweep indicator pointing to the current barometric pressure. They are commonly seen in weather stations and on board boats. Aneroid barometers function by measuring the expansion and contraction of a hollow metal capsule.