Temperature

This article is part of the PhysicsHelp Tutoring Wiki

Temperature

Temperature like all physical properties was created to describe, quantitatively, the state of some form of matter. Unfortunately there wasn’t a clear consensus on how temperature should be measured initially and therefore we ended up with three well known temperature scales; Kelvin, Celsius, and Fahrenheit. These three scales are simply different methods to measure the same quantity, similar to feet, yards and meters. Kelvin is the preferred method of measuring temperature and should be used whenever possible. The Celsius scale has the same size unit of measurement as the Kelvin scale ( 1 ° C = 1 K ). The difference between the two is the relative zero point for each ( 0°C = 273.15 K or 0 K = -273.15°C see figure above). The Fahrenheit scale has different sized units and a unique zero point. Try to think of three thermometers each side by side with the three different temperature scales. Understand that the three thermometers are the same physically, the only difference is the temperature scale painted or printed on the casing. Try to move back and forth from one thermometer to the other to get a sense of how the different scales relate.