Talk:Degree (temperature)

°C vs C° for differences

I've changed it to "the usage is sometimes seen reversed" because the usage is not universal and doesn't appear to be part of the SI definitions. A Celsius temperature itself is a difference to a reference temperature. All I found at http://www.bipm.org/en/si/si_brochure/chapter2/2-1/2-1-1/kelvin.html is that "A difference or interval of temperature may be expressed in kelvins or in degrees Celsius". C° or F° seem to be used chiefly in meteorology, right? Somebody who knows please elaborate on the history and where or where not this convention is followed. Femto 16:54, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Agree this should be mentioned in the article. Let's put it on the to-do list. Donama (talk) 02:38, 10 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Degree unit (A)

In an old book on electronics, thermionic valves etc (Henry Jacobowitz, Leslie Basford, Electronics made simple, Made Simple Books, Heinemann, 1982) I found temperature given in degrees denoted with unit (°A) and referred to as "absolute temperature". The following pairs of numbers are given:

1000°A = 727°C
1150°A = 877°C
1600°A = 1327°C
1900°A = 1627°C
3200°A = 2927°C

This looks like temperature in Kelvins, but does anyone know why unit (A) is used instead of (K)? Zureks (talk) 14:42, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This is already dealt with in the article. Donama (talk) 02:39, 10 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

history?

I was hoping to find some historical background as to why the idea of degree is used as a unit to describe temperature. I'm coming to this from the perspective of circular/angular degree... what's the relationship between 50 degrees celcius and a 50 degree angle? 142.58.83.96 (talk) 23:09, 1 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I have no concrete information to provide, and I actually came here for the same reason. Perhaps if I say more, someone will at least debunk me. I thought the idea of "degree" was related to the idea that a "degree" is usually not a "unit" (despite calling them units) and is adopted mainly for human convenience. A unit is something where scalar multiplication works meaningfully, in relation to what's being measured. Hence the term "unit", meaning "one". So 0(1K) = 0K which is absolute zero, but 0(1°C) = 0°C, which cold but is not absolute zero (as last winter proved). 300(1K) is 300 times as hot as 1K. 300(1°C) is not 300 times as hot as 1°C. Similarly, in navigational direction, 2(200°) is not 400°, and it's not even 40°; you can multiply a rotation, but scalar multiplication of direction isn't even defined. Radians are the best measures of angles, but degrees are there for human convenience. 24.57.210.141 (talk) 01:56, 25 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]

kelvin?

There reads: The Kelvin (°K) is a former name for the SI unit of temperature on the thermodynamic (absolute) temperature scale. Since 1967 it has been known simply as the kelvin, with symbol K.
So "simply" means with a lower case letter, and that is the only difference? The name was kelvin and it still is kelvin, actually. 85.217.14.230 (talk) 18:56, 29 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

That line has been fixed. The text was originally correctly written as The degree Kelvin (°K) is a former name, but someone misunderstood it and removed the word "degree". In other words, prior to 1967, kelvin used the term "degree" just like the other temperature scales (and yes, capitalized Kelvin). Thunder Wolf (talk) 07:48, 2 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

"degrees kelvin"?

Unlike the degree Fahrenheit and degree Celsius, the kelvin is not referred to or written as a degree

A quick Google or Google Scholar search reveals that this statement is simply not true. Kelvin is frequently referred to as 'degrees kelvin', even in scientific literature. Perhaps this should be rephrased? Getting into IS/SHOULD territory here.

While this technically does not follow the definition in the standard, there is no real possibility of ambiguity. This use generally appears in prose, with data and formulas using K as a unit. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.203.100.20 (talk) 11:46, 21 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]

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