degrees celsius (° c)

Physical

2022

We explain what degrees Celsius are and who was the creator of this unit of measurement. Also, what are degrees Kelvin and Fahrenheit.

Degrees Celsius are represented by the symbol ° C.

What are degrees Celsius (° C)?

It is called degrees Celsius to a unit of measurement of the temperature erroneously known as degrees centigrade and represented by the symbol ° C. This unit pays tribute to its creator, the Swedish physicist and astronomer Anders Celsius, and is equivalent in caloric intensity to the Kelvin scale, so it can be defined with the following formula:

Temperature (° C) = Temperature (K) - 273.15

Paradoxically, William Thompson, creator of the kelvin scale, created it based on the degree Celsius scale, since it is later.

On the other hand, there is another scale of temperatures that is called the Fahrenheit scale. The conversion from degrees Celsius to degrees Fahrenheit is done using the following formula:

Temperature (° F) = 1.8 x Temperature (° C) + 32

The degree Celsius scale places its zero point about 0.01 degrees below the triple point of the Water: that in which the three states of matter coexist in equilibrium, solid, liquid Y gaseous.

Initially, its creator had relied on the points of freezing Y boiling of the water, assigning them 100 and 0 degrees respectively, so that the more heat the lower the temperature was recorded. This logic would be reversed around 1744 when Jean-Pierre Christin and Carlos Linnaeus proposed to reverse it.

Anders Celsius

Anders Celsius was a professor of astronomy at the University of Uppsala.

The creator of the Celsius scale was Anders Celsius (1701-1744), a scientist of Swedish origin. Born in the Swedish Empire, he was a teacher ofastronomy at the University of Uppsala, where he supervised the construction of his observatory, in charge of which he was from 1740.

He became interested in observing theAurora borealis and in measuring the flattening of the planet at its poles, although his best-known scientific contribution was the creation of the temperature scale that bears his name, which he proposed to the Swedish Academy of Sciences as a replacement for the Fahrenheit scale, originally German.

He died in 1744, a victim of tuberculosis. However, in life he enjoyed numerous awards in the scientific area, such as his acceptance in the Royal Society, the Leopoldina Academy of Natural Sciences or the Prussian Academy of Sciences. Later, one of the craters of the Moon It was named in his honor.

Kelvin degrees

The temperature associated with each color is usually measured in degrees Kelvin.

Created by William Thompson Kelvin (called Lord Kelvin) in 1848, it was established using the Celsius scale, that is, relocating its zero point to make it coincide with the so-called absolute zero (-273.15 ° C, the lowest possible temperature). This thermometric unit is represented by the letter K and is considered the "absolute temperature", which is why it is used in the scientific field, especially inphysical Ychemistry.

Kelvin degrees are also used to measure the temperature ofcolor atmovie theater, video andPhotography. That is, this scale is used to measure the color compared to what would be emitted by a black body heated to a certain temperature in degrees Kelvin.

Farenheit degrees

Fahrenheit determined its zero point on the scale through a usual refrigeration mixture.

Represented with the symbol ° F, the Fahrenheit degree was proposed by the German physicist and engineer Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit in 1724. According to its scale, the freezing and boiling points of water are 32 ° F and 212 ° F respectively.

Fahrenheit determined the zero point of the scale through a mixture usual refrigeration: ice, water and ammonium chloride. This is because he wanted to abolish the negative scales of the Rømer scale used until then.

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