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Empirical temperature scales are not reflective of the fundamental, microscopic laws of matter. Temperature is a universal attribute of matter, yet empirical scales map a narrow range onto a scale that is known to have a useful functional form for a particular application. Thus, their range is limited.
This is a collection of temperature conversion formulas and comparisons among eight different temperature scales, several of which have long been obsolete.. Temperatures on scales that either do not share a numeric zero or are nonlinearly related cannot correctly be mathematically equated (related using the symbol =), and thus temperatures on different scales are more correctly described as ...
The first sealed thermometer was constructed in 1654 by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand II. [1]: 19 The development of today's thermometers and temperature scales began in the early 18th century, when Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit produced a mercury thermometer and scale, both developed by Ole Christensen Rømer.
Fahrenheit proposed his temperature scale in 1724, basing it on two reference points of temperature. In his initial scale (which is not the final Fahrenheit scale), the zero point was determined by placing the thermometer in "a mixture of ice, water, and salis Armoniaci [note 1] [transl. ammonium chloride] or even sea salt". [11]
The thermometer shows a reading at the top of the mercury section on both the maximum and minimum scales; this shows the current temperature and should be the same on both scales. If the two readings are not the same, then the instrument scales are not correctly positioned or the instrument is damaged. [2]
Temperature measurement using modern scientific thermometers and temperature scales goes back at least as far as the early 18th century, when Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit adapted a thermometer (switching to mercury) and a scale both developed by Ole Christensen Rømer. Fahrenheit's scale is still in use in the United States for non-scientific ...
The term degree is used in several scales of temperature, with the notable exception of kelvin, primary unit of temperature for engineering and the physical sciences. The degree symbol ° is usually used, followed by the initial letter of the unit; for example, "°C" for degree Celsius. A degree can be defined as a set change in temperature ...
A thermometer has two important elements: (1) a temperature sensor (e.g. the bulb of a mercury-in-glass thermometer or the pyrometric sensor in an infrared thermometer) in which some change occurs with a change in temperature; and (2) some means of converting this change into a numerical value (e.g. the visible scale that is marked on a mercury ...