Fahrenheit scale: history?

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Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit created the Fahrenheit temperature scale in 1724, using the freezing and boiling points of water as reference points. The process for arriving at the final scale is largely unknown, with several stories circulating. Fahrenheit is not documented as a Freemason, and the Fahrenheit scale continues to be used in the United States.

The Fahrenheit scale, which measures temperature, was created by Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686-1736), a Dutch-German scientist, in 1724. He devoted much of his life’s work to measuring temperature and also invented the alcohol and water thermometers. mercury. On the Fahrenheit scale, the point at which water ice melts is 32° and the point at which it boils is 212°. Between these two points is exactly 180°, a number easily divisible on a thermostat. While we know with some degree of certainty what measurements the scientist used to determine the scale of him, his process for arriving at the final scale is largely unknown.

Several stories have circulated about how Fahrenheit came up with its scale. One is that he established 0° as the coldest temperature he could measure outdoors during the winter of 1708 to 1709 in Danzig (Danzig), Poland. This measurement and his own body temperature, which he measured at 100°, were the two marks on which he based the rest of his scale. Many think that his thermometer was off or that he had a fever that day, resulting in a relatively high body temperature reading. The scale was then divided into 12 separate segments, which were later split into eight, creating a separate 96-degree scale.

In another story, Fahrenheit calculated 0° by measuring the point at which equal parts of salt and ice mixed together melt. So he established 96° as the blood temperature. Yet another story claims that he co-opted Ole Rømer’s temperature scale. On this scale, 7.5° is the freezing point of water. Fahrenheit multiplied this number to eliminate fractions, then refigured 32° as the freezing point of water, with 64 degrees separating body temperature at 96°. He then marked the degrees using six lines.

Some believe Fahrenheit was a Freemason and since there are 32 degrees of illumination, he chose to use 32 as the melting temperature of water. Degrees are also used as levels with Freemasons, hence the use of the word about scale. However, there is no documented evidence that the scientist was a Freemason.

In another story Fahrenheit is said to have believed that a person would freeze to death at 0° and die of heatstroke at 100°. This created a 0° to 100° scale that encompassed the range of livable temperatures. Another story claims that he recorded the melting point of water, the boiling point and the body temperature of a human being, then put the melting and boiling points exactly 180 degrees apart. . One far-fetched story says that Fahrenheit observed the melting point of butter at 100° and set it accordingly.

Because degrees Fahrenheit is 5/9 of a degree Celsius, it’s easier to make more exact measurements without using fractions in the Fahrenheit scale. This scale continues to be used in the United States, although most other countries using the metric system switched to Celsius in the 1960s and 1970s.




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