Degree (temperature) temperature: (Measurement of temperature) "Degrees Kelvin" (K) is a former name for the SI unit of temperature on the thermodynamic (absolute) temperature scale. Since 1967 it has been known simply as the kelvin, with symbol K (without a degree symbol). Degree absolute (°A) is obsolete terminology, often referring specifically to the kelvin but sometimes the degree Rankine as well. Degree (temperature) The term degree is used in several scales of temperature. The symbol ° is usually used, followed by the initial letter of the unit, for example “°C” for degree(s) Celsius. A degree can be defined as a set change
Absolute zero the zero was equivalent to about −240 on the Celsius scale. This close approximation to the modern value of −273.15 °C for the zero of the air-thermometer was further improved upon in 1779 by Johann Heinrich Lambert, who observed that might be regarded as absolute cold. Values of this order for the absolute zero were not, however, universally accepted about this period. Pierre-Simon Laplace and Antoine Lavoisier, in their 1780 treatise on heat, arrived at values ranging from 1,500 to 3,000 below the freezing-point of water, and thought that in any case it must be at least 600 below. John