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You are an air sign. How do you measure the temperature from the air around you?

Units of Temperature (Images from http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/maps/ctof.rxml

In the United states, meteorologist measure surface temperature as degrees Fahrenheit, (developed in the early 1700's by G. Daniel Fahrenheit). However, most of the rest of the world uses degrees Celsius (developed in the 18th Century). It is important to be able to convert from units of degrees Fahrenheit to degrees Celsius.

The little "0" to the top and left of the abbreviation stands for degrees.

HOW TO CONVERT

• To convert temperature from Fahrenheit to Celsius, first subtract 32 degrees.
  Divide the difference by 1.8.
• To convert temperature from Celsius to Fahrenheit, first multiply by 1.8.
  Add 32 degrees to the product.

  So if it is ºF 86 in Colorado, and you wanted to communicate that information to someone in Europe, you would do the following:

  86-32= 54
  54÷ 1.8= 30

  You would tell your friend, "It's 86 degrees here. That would mean 30 degrees there!"

TIPS

• Water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit and 0 degrees Celsius.
• Water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit and 100 degrees Celsius at sea level.
• Degrees Fahrenheit is denoted as °F.
• Degrees Celsius is denoted as °C.
• The boiling point of water decreases as elevation increases.

Kelvin is another unit of temperature that is very handy for many scientific calculations. The Kelvin init of temperature begins at absolute zero (meaning it has no negative numbers. (Note...the word "degrees" is NOT used with Kelvin.) The way to convert from degrees Celsius to Kelvin is:

If you wanted to express the same temperature (ºF 86) in Kelvin, you would do the following.

ºF 86 = ºC 30.
30+273= K 303

The three different temperature scales have been placed side-by-side in the chart below for comparison.

Image adapted from: Ahrens, taken from http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/maps/ctof.rxml

Can you imagine anything living and breathing air at Vostok, Antarctica on July of 1983? Ouch!

USING THE EXAMPLES ABOVE, FILL IN THE INFORMATION MISSING IN THE BOXES BELOW.

60 ºF = ºC

100 ºF = ºC

42 ºC = ºF

34 ºC = K

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Visit these sites for more information!

http://homeworktips.about.com/cs/currentevents/ht/ConvertTemps.htm

http://www.onlineconversion.com/temperature.htm

http://www.lawrencegoetz.com/programs/temp.htm

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