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Plain-language explanations of the measurements, sensors and numbers behind environmental monitoring.

The smallest step the display can show. Counts, digits and why 6000 is better than 2000 but not more accurate.

Measure the same thing twice and get the same answer. Repeatability is how close the two are.

The honest range around a reading. Every measurement has one, whether or not the display admits it.

A sensor has mass. It has to reach the temperature of the air before it can report it.

A sensor measures the air touching it. Where that air came from decides what the number means.

Fast enough to catch the event you care about, slow enough to last. Usually 1 to 15 minutes.

A sensor with a clock and a memory. It turns a reading into a record you can prove.

Glass is the coldest surface in the room, and it is below the dew point of the air you are breathing.

A sensor for flammable gas, reported against the concentration that could burn. Sniffers find leaks; monitors guard spaces.

The temperature at which the air's moisture condenses. Colder surfaces than this get wet.

How full the air is of water vapor, as a percentage of what it could hold at that temperature.

The water in the air barely changes; the temperature does, and relative humidity follows it.