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Physics for Kids

Temperature

• Celsius - The most common temperature scale in the world is Celsius. Celsius uses the unit "degrees" and is abbreviated as °C. The scale sets the freezing point of water at 0 °C and the boiling point of water at 100 °C.
• Fahrenheit - The temperature scale most common in the United States is the Fahrenheit scale. Fahrenheit sets the freezing point of water at 32 °F and the boiling point at 212 °F.
• Kelvin - The standard unit of temperature that is most used by scientists is Kelvin. Kelvin doesn't use the ° symbol like the other two scales. When writing a temperature in Kelvin you just use the letter K. Kelvin uses absolute zero as the 0 point of its scale. It has the same increments as Celsius in that there are 100 increments between the freezing and boiling points of water.

• Temperature is independent of the size or quantity of an object. This is called an intensive property.
• The Fahrenheit scale is named after Dutch physicist Daniel Fahrenheit.
• Temperature is a different quantity from the total amount of thermal energy in a substance, which is dependent on the size of the object.
• Celsius was named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius. Celsius was originally known as "centigrade."
• As substances approach absolute zero they can achieve some interesting properties such as superfluidity and superconductivity.

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