CHEM 111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Kelvin, Metric System, Scale Of Temperature

• School: College of Charleston
• Department: Chemistry and Biochemistry
• Course: CHEM 111
• Professor: Deavor

Document Summary

A measured quantity must always include a unit. Temperature is a relative measure of how hot or cold a substance is and is commonly reported using one of three temperature scales. In the united states, temperatures are commonly reported using the fahrenheit temperature scale that has units of degrees fahrenheit ( o f). In scientific measurements, the celsius and kelvin temperature scales are used, with units of degrees celsius ( o c) and kelvins (k), respectively. Notice that for the kelvin temperature scale, the name of the temperature unit (kelvin) is not capitalized but the abbreviation, k, is capitalized. In the fahrenheit temperature scale, the freezing point of water is set at 32 o f and the boiling point is 180 degrees higher, 212 o f. In the celsius temperature scale, the freezing point of water is assigned a temperature of 0 o c and the boiling point of water is assigned a temperature of 100 o c.