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Temperature

On this page we will learn

  • how to read the temperature
  • why the reading is only approximate

Terminology

  • processor – the main chip that runs programs on the micro:bit; its temperature sensor is built inside it.
  • temperature sensor – a sensor that measures how hot or cold it is, in degrees Celsius.

The temperature sensor inside the micro:bit's processor gives an approximate reading of the air temperature in degrees Celsius.

Possible uses:

  • weather stations
  • overheating alerts
  • room monitors

Connect it

The temperature sensor is built into the micro:bit, so we don't need to connect anything.

  • Each example is a main.py file. See Your First Program for how to create, upload and run it.
  • The sensor is inside the processor, so the reading can be a little higher than the air temperature when the micro:bit has been working hard.

Set it up

temperature() is part of the microbit library. We import it at the top of every program:

1
from microbit import *

Methods

Method Parameters Returns Description
temperature() none int (°C) The current temperature

temperature()

Returns the temperature in degrees Celsius as a whole number.

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2
3
4
5
from microbit import *

# Main loop
while True:
    display.scroll(temperature())

PRIMM

  1. Predict what you think will happen. Be specific.
  2. Run the program.
  3. Time to investigate the code. What does each line do?
Code explanation
  • line 1 → imports all the commands from the microbit library.
  • line 4 → starts an endless loop.
  • line 5 → gets the current temperature and scrolls it across the display.

Documentation

Documentation is the official guide written by the people who made the code library, and we can use it to look up every method and its parameters, including ones that aren't covered on this page.

Exercises

PRIMM

Time to modify the code and see what happens.

Starter files are in the temperature folder of your tutorial files. Solutions are on the Exercise Solutions page.

Exercise 1

Starter: temperature/ex1_min_max

Can you create a program that checks the temperature every 2 seconds and keeps track of the minimum and maximum? It should show the minimum when button A is pressed and the maximum when button B is pressed.

Exercise 2

Starter: temperature/ex2_comfort

A comfortable room temperature is between 20 and 22 °C. Can you make the micro:bit show a happy face if the temperature is in that range, an up arrow if it is too high, and a down arrow if it is too low?