Answer to Question #173043 in Physics for Louis

Question

 Absolute temperature scale. 

Answer 1

Absolute temperature scales have as their zero point the lowest temperature believed possible. Absolute temperature is used in application of the ideal gas law and many other laws of thermodynamics. A scale for absolute temperature with degree units the same as on the Celsius scale is known as the Kelvin scale; the absolute temperature scale using Fahrenheit degree units is the Rankine scale. Accordingly, a temperature difference of one degree on the Celsius scale corresponds to a temperature difference of one degree on the Kelvin scale; similarly for the Fahrenheit and Rankine scales. Units on the Kelvin scale used to be termed ‘degrees Kelvin’ and abbreviated °K. It is modern practice, however, to name the unit simply ‘kelvin’; the SI symbol for kelvin is K. Units on the Rankine scale are denoted °R.

0°R=0 K=−459.67°F=−273.15°C.