Fahrenheit temperature scale

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Fahrenheit temperature scale

Fahrenheit temperature scale , temperature scale in which the temperature difference between two reference temperatures, the melting and boiling points of water, is divided into 180 equal intervals called degrees. The freezing point is taken as 32°F and the boiling point as 212°F. The scale was established by the German-Dutch physicist Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit in 1724. William John Macquorn Rankine used it as the basis of his absolute temperature scale, now called the Rankine temperature scale , in 1859. Although the Fahrenheit scale was formerly used widely in English-speaking countries, many of these countries began changing to the more convenient Celsius temperature scale in the late 1960s and early 1970s; a notable exception is the United States, where the Fahrenheit scale is still in common use together with other English units of measurement. Temperatures on the Fahrenheit scale can be converted to equivalent temperatures on the Celsius scale by first subtracting 32° from the Fahrenheit temperature, then multiplying the result by 5/9 , according to the formula ( F -32) 5/9 = C.

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Fahrenheit temperature scale

World Encyclopedia | 2005 | Â© World Encyclopedia 2005, originally published by Oxford University Press 2005. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Fahrenheit temperature scale System for measuring temperature based on the freezing point of water (32°F) and the boiling point of water (212°F). The interval between them is divided into 180 equal parts. Although replaced in Britain by Celsius, Fahrenheit is still used in the USA for nonscientific measurements. Fahrenheit is converted to Celsius by subtracting 32 and then dividing by 1.8. See also thermometer

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Fahrenheit scale

A Dictionary of Biology | 2004 | Â© A Dictionary of Biology 2004, originally published by Oxford University Press 2004. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Fahrenheit scale A temperature scale in which (by modern definition) the temperature of boiling water is taken as 212 degrees and the temperature of melting ice as 32 degrees. It was invented in 1714 by the German scientist G. D. Fahrenheit (1686–1736), who set the zero at the lowest temperature he knew how to obtain in the laboratory (by mixing ice and common salt) and took his own body temperature as 96°F. The scale is no longer in scientific use. To convert to the Celsius scale the formula is C = 5(F – 32)/9.

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Free newspaper and magazine articles

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