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
Réaumur scale Réaumur scale The Réaumur scale (; °Ré, °Re, °r), also known as the "octogesimal division", is a temperature scale for which the freezing and boiling points of water are defined as 0 and 80 degrees respectively. The scale is named for René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur, who first proposed a similar scale in 1730. Réaumur’s thermometer contained diluted alcohol (ethanol) and was constructed on the principle of using 0° for the freezing temperature of water, and graduating the tube into degrees, each of which was one-thousandth of the volume contained by the bulb and tube up to the zero mark.