Scoville scale Scoville scale The Scoville scale is a measurement of the pungency (spiciness or "heat") of chili peppers and other spicy foods, as recorded in Scoville Heat Units (SHU) based on the concentration of capsaicinoids, among which capsaicin is the predominant component. The scale is named after its creator, American pharmacist Wilbur Scoville, whose 1912 method is known as the Scoville organoleptic test. In the 21st century, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is used to quantify the capsaicinoid content as an indicator of pungency. The most expedient method for estimating SHU is a subjective assessment derived from the capsaicinoid sensitivity by people
Scale of temperature Scale of temperature Scale of temperature is a way to measure temperature quantitatively. Empirical scales measure the quantity of heat in a system in relation to a fixed parameter, a thermometer. They are not absolute measures, that is why scales vary. Absolute temperature is thermodynamic temperature because it is directly related to thermodynamics. It is the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics that leads to a formal definition of thermodynamic temperature. According to the zeroth law of thermodynamics, being in thermal equilibrium is an equivalence relation. Thus all thermal systems may be divided into a quotient set by this equivalence relation, denoted