[Chemistry Class Notes] Kelvin Scale Pdf for Exam

Kelvin Scale Formula

Temperature is used to measure the average kinetic energy of particles present in the matter. In the day to day usage, the temperature is used to measure how cold or hot a particular object is. It plays a vital parameter when it comes to chemistry. Whenever a substance tends to change from solid to liquid or vice versa, it is all due to a change in the temperature. The chemical reactions that occur proceed faster whenever the temperature is increased. Also, several unstable things, for example, enzymes, are viable for a longer time at low temperatures.

There are three different kinds of temperature scales that are used. They are the Fahrenheit (°F) temperature scale, the Celsius (°C) temperature scale, and the Kelvin (K) scale, which is also known as an absolute temperature scale. The Kelvin temperature scale is regarded as the international standard to measure scientific temperatures.

Fahrenheit Scale

The Fahrenheit temperature scale is amongst the common temperature measurement scales, most popularly used in the United States and a few Caribbean parts. It was discovered by Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit in the early years of the 18th Century. However, the scale had adapted the measurement standards from an earlier version of the scale that was discovered by Ole Roemer.

Water freezes at a temperature of 32 °F and boils at the temperature of 212 °F. This temperature scale also includes the negative temperatures, which lie below 0 °F. Absolute zero is the coldest possible temperature which is equal to -459.67 °F.

Celsius Scale

The Celsius temperature scale is used globally for measuring the temperatures. However, in the early 18th Century, there were two versions of the Celsius temperature scale. One was developed by Anders Celsius, the Swedish scientist, and the other was developed by the French scientist Jean Pierre Cristin. The Celsius temperature scale is also known as the Centigrade scale since it is based on a division of 100 degrees between the boiling and the freezing points of water. Water freezes into ice at 0 °C and tends to boil at 100 °C. Every degree of Fahrenheit is 1.8 times than that of the size of one degree Celsius because of the arrangement of the boiling and the freezing points. Celsius scale also has negative temperatures just like the Fahrenheit temperature scale. The absolute zero on the Celsius scale is at -273.15 °C.

Kelvin Scale

In the 19th Century, the Kelvin temperature scale was adapted from the Celsius temperature scale by William Thompson, a British scientist, who was later called as Lord Kelvin. The Kelvin scale was designed in a way for setting the zero point of the temperature scale at the point of the absolute zero. Due to this, the absolute zero is at 0 K. Since the Kelvin temperature scale has a direct relation with the absolute zero, it is widely used in scientific calculations and equations. For example, Kelvin is used as the standard unit in the ideal gas equation which shows the relationship between pressure, mass, volume, and temperature.

Temperatures Conversions

1. Celsius to Kelvin Formula

0 °C is equal to 273.15 K. The Celsius to Kelvin formula is °C + 273.15 = K.

2. Kelvin to Celsius Formula

For converting Kelvin into degree Celsius, the formula is given by K − 273.15 = °C

3. Fahrenheit to Kelvin Formula

The formula to convert Fahrenheit to Kelvin is (°F − 32) × 5/9 + 273.15 = K

4. Kelvin to Fahrenheit Formula

The formula to convert Kelvins into Fahrenheit degrees is given by (K − 273.15) × 9/5 + 32 = °F.