Fahrenheit a degree on the Fahrenheit scale is of the interval between the freezing point and the boiling point. On the Celsius scale, the freezing and boiling points of water are 100 degrees apart. A temperature interval of 1 °F is equal to an interval of degrees Celsius. The Fahrenheit and Celsius scales intersect at −40° (i.e., −40 °F = −40 °C). Absolute zero is −273.15 °C or −459.67 °F. The "Rankine" temperature scale uses degree intervals of the same size as those of the Fahrenheit scale, except that absolute zero is 0 °R — the same way that the "Kelvin"
Temperature calibrated. As a practical matter it is not possible to use a gas thermometer to measure absolute zero temperature since the gases tend to condense into a liquid long before the temperature reaches zero. It is possible, however, to extrapolate to absolute zero by using the ideal gas law, as shown in the figure. The kinetic theory assumes that pressure is caused by the force associated with individual atoms striking the walls, and that all energy is translational kinetic energy. Using a sophisticated symmetry argument, Boltzmann deduced what is now called the Maxwell–Boltzmann probability distribution function for the velocity of