Thermistors are favoured over other temperature transducers because they _____.

Question

Question

This question was previously asked in

RRB JE ECE 22 Apr 2025 Shift 2 CBT 2 Official Paper

Answer 1

The correct answer is: 1) have a fast response time and high sensitivity

Thermistors (thermal resistors) are widely preferred in temperature sensing applications due to these key advantages:

High Sensitivity:
- Thermistors exhibit large resistance changes with small temperature variations (typically negative temperature coefficient, i.e., NTC thermistors).
- Far more sensitive than RTDs or thermocouples.
Fast Response Time:
- Small size and low thermal mass allow rapid reaction to temperature changes (milliseconds to seconds).
Cost-Effective:
- Cheaper than RTDs and more accurate than thermocouples for limited ranges.

Transducer	Sensitivity	Response Time	Linearity	Temperature Range
Thermistor	Very High	Fast	Nonlinear	Limited
RTD	Moderate	Slow	Linear	Wide
Thermocouple	Low	Fast	Quasi-linear	Very Wide