Kelvin Celsius, which has the same magnitude. The definition implies that absolute zero (0 K) is equivalent to . In 1848, William Thomson, who later was made Lord Kelvin, wrote in his paper, "On an Absolute Thermometric Scale", of the need for a scale whereby "infinite cold" (absolute zero) was the scale's null point, and which used the degree Celsius for its unit increment. Kelvin calculated that absolute zero was equivalent to −273 °C on the air thermometers of the time. This absolute scale is known today as the Kelvin thermodynamic temperature scale. Kelvin's value of "−273" was the negative reciprocal
Thermodynamic temperature radiant power as it does at 296 K (room temperature). This is why one can so easily feel the radiant heat from hot objects at a distance. At higher temperatures, such as those found in an incandescent lamp, black-body radiation can be the principal mechanism by which thermal energy escapes a system. The full range of the thermodynamic temperature scale, from absolute zero to absolute hot, and some notable points between them are shown in the table below. The kinetic energy of particle motion is just one contributor to the total thermal energy in a substance; another is "phase transitions",