From: SFPhysics@aol.com
Date: Fri Dec 10 1999 - 09:05:21 PST
From: SFPhysics@aol.com Message-ID: <0.685929bb.25828cd1@aol.com> Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 12:05:21 EST Subject: Re: Fahrenheit Scale Origin
> Simple question: What is the origin of the Fahrenheit temperature scale and
> does 0°F have any significance? (OK, that's two simple questions, although
> I'm sure they are more complicated than that)
> -- Mr. David Barrios
> Galileo Academy of Science and Technology
> San Francisco, Ca
>>
The Fahrenheit Scale of temperature was the work of Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit
(1686 - 1736). He used a mixture of water and salt for 0 degrees and 96
degrees for human body temperature (later more accurately pinned and 98.6
average). As an engineer he used a common practice of the time and assigned
an arc value of 180 degrees to the full scale range up to boiling water.
Haven't you ever noticed that 212 minus 32 is 180? And, today we still refer
to temperature units as degrees!
The other scales were also named for their purveyors. Celsius was named for
Anders Celsius by himself when he used the freezing and boiling points of
water to make his scale in 1742. (Use of the term centigrade is now
considered archaic.) Likewise, Reaumur, Kelvin, Rankine, et al., all named
their scales for themselves.
Al Sefl
SFUSD teacher at large!
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