Why are there two scales to measure temperature?

First of all, temperature is not the only case that has more than a measurement unit. There are more than one scale concerning mass (weight), distance, areas and volumes. All depends on the country we are.

The degree Celsius scale owe its name to the Swedish physicist and astronomer Anders Celsius, who has made use of the water fusion point (freezing) as 0 degrees and the boiling point (boiling) as 100 degrees. Out of curiosity the scale used by this scientist was invented, this is, 0ºC was the boiling point and 100ºC was the fusion one. Thus 1 degree Celsius represents the hundredth part of the difference between the two temperatures.

The United States use a different scale, indeed. It was created by the German physicist, Daniel G. Fahrenheit, who is also the inventor of the mercurial thermometer. The Fahrenheit degree scale was conceived having in mind 0ºF as being the lowest temperature that could be obtained through a certain mixture used by the scientist and 100ºF as being the Human Body temperature. In this scale the fusion point is about 32ºF and the boiling point is 212ºF.

Like many other things there wasn’t an agreement between Europe and the United States and that’s why in Portugal people use a scale different from theirs. Although, these ones are the most known scales. There are also other scales to measure. Here we have the used formula to convert from degrees Celsius to degrees Fahrenheit: `°F = °C xx 1,8 + 32`.

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