Réaumur scale

Alternative Temperature Scales

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• published: 24 Jun 2011
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Alternative Temperature Scales The Celsius temperature scale, where zero is the melting temperature of water, and a hundred is its boiling point, is known to be the system accepted in the majority of countries throughout the world. Scientists often use the Kelvin scale, where the reference point is the minimum possible temperature - the absolute zero. And of course, many of us heard about the Fahrenheit's scale that is used specifically in the USA. In this scale a hundred degrees corresponds to the normal temperature of the human body, and zero is the freezing temperature for the water-ammonium chloride blend. However, not many are aware that in different times there existed a couple more options for measuring temperature - several more alternative scales that did not take root and are not used nowadays, but are nevertheless remarkable. For example, you might be interested to know that the first temperature scale out there was developed by Hooke back in the seventeenth century. When the temperature of alcohol increases by one degree Hooke, its volume expands by one five hundredth, which corresponds to 2.4 degrees Celsius. There was no scale initially, but only this definition of a degree, since no reference points were suggested. But soon Huygens came up with the idea that the scale should be tied to the ice melting temperature and water boiling temperature. Generally speaking, the volume of liquids under different temperatures was used as a basis for several scales. For example, Reaumur used the expansion of the water-alcohol solution, and de l'Isle de la Croyere measured the volume of mercury and suggested that one degree is a decrease in the volume of mercury by one hundred thousandth, so his scale was in a way reversed. If the reference is the water boiling temperature, the ice melting temperature would constitute 2,400 degrees De. The famous Newton suggested his own option as well. Just like scientists before and after him, he assumed that zero is the ice melting temperature, and 12 degrees is the temperature of the human body. This resulted in a sort of combination of the future Celsius and Fahrenheit scales. Water boiled under 33 degree Newton. And one degree constitutes thirty hundredths of one degree Celsius. Rankin's scale is in a way a combination of the Kelvin's and Fahrenheit scales. Just like Kelvin, he started counting from the absolute zero, but Rankin's degree was equal to the degree ...