Fahrenheit

Fahrenheit is a temperature scale used primarily in the United States and its territories. It was proposed in 1724 by the German physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit. In the Fahrenheit scale, the freezing point of water is 32 degrees and the boiling point is 212 degrees at standard atmospheric pressure.

History

Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, a Polish-German physicist, engineer, and glass blower, proposed the Fahrenheit scale in 1724. Fahrenheit based his scale on three reference points: the freezing point of brine (0 degrees), the freezing point of water (32 degrees), and the human body temperature (approximately 96 degrees in his initial scale, later adjusted to 98.6 degrees).

Usage

Today, the Fahrenheit scale is primarily used in the United States and its territories. It is also used informally in the United Kingdom for expressing temperatures in everyday life, although the Celsius scale is used for official purposes.

Conversion to other scales

To convert Fahrenheit to Celsius, subtract 32, then multiply by 5/9. To convert Fahrenheit to Kelvin, subtract 32, then multiply by 5/9, and then add 273.15.

See also

• Celsius
• Kelvin
• Temperature conversion
• Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit

References

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