Kelvin Kelvin The Kelvin scale is an absolute thermodynamic temperature scale using as its null point absolute zero, the temperature at which all thermal motion ceases in the classical description of thermodynamics. The kelvin (symbol: K) is the base unit of temperature in the International System of Units (SI). Until 2018, the kelvin was defined as the fraction of the thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water (exactly 0.01 °C or 32.018 °F). In other words, it is defined such that the triple point of water is exactly 273.16 K. On 16 November 2018, a new definition was adopted, in
Absolute scale Absolute scale An absolute scale is a system of measurement that begins at a minimum, or zero point, and progresses in only one direction. An absolute scale differs from an arbitrary, or "relative," scale, which begins at some point selected by a person and can progress in both directions. An absolute scale begins at a natural minimum, leaving only one direction in which to progress. An absolute scale can only be applied to measurements in which a true minimum is known to exist. Time, for example, which does not have a clearly known beginning, is measured on a relative scale,