Temperature Random Motion of Molecules and Atoms

Three different temperature scales are in common use. The most familiar in the United States is tiie Fahrenheit (°F) scale. On the Fahrenheit scale, water freezes at 32 °F and boils at 212 °F. Room temperature is approximately 72 °F. The Fahrenheit scale was initially set up by assigning 0 °F to the freezing point of a concentrated saltwater solution and 96 °F to normal body temperature (although body temperature is now known to be 98.6 °F). 

The scale used by scientists is the Celsius ( C) scale. On this scale, water freezes at 0 °C and boils at 100 °C. Room temperature is approximately 22 °C. 

We can convert between these temperature scales using the following formulas. 

The degree symbol is used with the Celsius and Fahrenheit scales, but not with the Kelvin scale. 

For example, suppose we want to convert 212 K to Celsius. Following the procedure for solving numerical problems (Section 2.6), we first sort the information in the problem statement  

---