International Temperature Scale of 1990 International Temperature Scale of 1990 The International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS–90) published by the Consultative Committee for Thermometry (CCT) of the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) is an equipment calibration standard for making measurements on the Kelvin and Celsius temperature scales. ITS–90 is an approximation of the thermodynamic temperature scale that facilitates the comparability and compatibility of temperature measurements internationally. It specifies fourteen calibration points ranging from 0.65±0 K to ±0 K (−272.50±0 °C to ±0 °C) and is subdivided into multiple temperature ranges which overlap in some instances. ITS–90 is the latest (as of 2014) of
Absolute zero their zero points at absolute zero by definition. It is commonly thought of as the lowest temperature possible, but it is not the lowest "enthalpy" state possible, because all real substances begin to depart from the ideal gas when cooled as they approach the change of state to liquid, and then to solid; and the sum of the enthalpy of vaporization (gas to liquid) and enthalpy of fusion (liquid to solid) exceeds the ideal gas's change in enthalpy to absolute zero. In the quantum-mechanical description, matter (solid) at absolute zero is in its ground state, the point of lowest internal