You may have noticed that there are different temperature scales, such as Fahrenheit and Celsius. Historically, most English-speaking nations use Fahrenheit as the temperature standard for climatic, industrial, and medical purposes. Since the standardization process during the late 1960s and 1970s, more and more countries are now using the Celsius scale. Nowadays, only the United States and a few others, such as Belize, are still using the Fahrenheit system.
Celsius vs Fahrenheit
Celsius: the freezing and boiling temperatures of water are defined to be 0 and 100, respectively.
Fahrenheit: the freezing and boiling temperatures of water are defined to be 32 and 212, respectively.
Conversion between Celsius and Fahrenheit can be done using the following formula:
°F = 9/5 °C + 32
For example, 20 °C is equivalent as 68 °F.
Absolute Temperature
In scientific world, people also define a temperature of absolute zero, the temperature of 0 entropy at which all molecular motion stops. There are two absolute temperature scales, Kelvin which takes the same scale as Celsius, while Rankine uses the same scale as Fahrenheit.
For Kelvin
°K = °C + 273.15
which means zero K is at -273.15 °C.
Similarly for Rankine
°R = °F + 459.69
therefore, zero R is -459.69 °F.
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