The ancient temperature scale is named after the 17th-century German physicist Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit (1686–1736). The scientist created a thermometer, for which he proposed a system with convenient starting points for measuring. The smallest distance between the divisions of the device was called "degrees Fahrenheit" in honor of the inventor. This scale is now being used less and less due to the transition in the 70s of the XX century to the International System of Units (SI). Knowing the rules for converting one unit to another will help to better understand the meaning of the title of Ray Bradbury’s novel “451 degrees Fahrenheit” for residents of countries where they use only the metric system.
Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit
The German researcher G. Fahrenheit was born in Danzig, spent his whole life experimenting in physics, invented the tools used in metrology. In 1710, the scientist set about creating a temperature scale and an instrument for measuring the heating and cooling of bodies. One of the starting points in this work was the observation of the state of the mixture of ice and water, as well as the evaporation of water during boiling.
Fahrenheit used tinted alcohol and mercury in temperature measuring instruments . The disadvantage of liquid metal is that it freezes at low temperatures. Gabriel Fahrenheit constantly improved his instruments, was elected a member of the Royal Scientific Society in England. At one time it was believed that the thermometers created by the German physicist were irretrievably lost. There were only two instances, but then a third original device was invented, invented by the scientist.
Temperature measuring device
Various thermometers have existed for about 500 years, the greatest scientists of the Middle Ages share the honor of creating these important devices. In the first samples, the starting points for the scale were unsuccessfully selected, and thermometers created using divisions of different “prices” were inconvenient in everyday life.
The merit of Gabriel Fahrenheit lies in the fact that he invented a device of a modern form with an accurate measurement scale. The researcher proposed as a starting point the transition of ice into water, taking into account its boiling point. Modern household thermometers in English-speaking countries are little similar to those invented in the Middle Ages, now most often marks are applied in the range from 0 to 132 ° F (degrees Fahrenheit).
Temperature scale
The most important parameters of the scale of the device created by Fahrenheit:
- point 0 ° F is the temperature at which ice is located;
- 32 ° F - ice melting and reverse transition to solid state;
- 212 degrees Fahrenheit - boiling water.
The degrees Fahrenheit began to be denoted by the symbol ° F after the invention of the thermometer. The Swedish researcher
Anders Celsius more precisely than his German counterpart, established the temperature of the transition of water to different states of aggregation. On the scale proposed by the Swedish scientist, there was also the number 100, but it corresponded to melting ice. Celsius took 0 degrees as the
boiling point of water. More than 250 years have passed since the moment when this scale was turned upside down: the temperature of the transformation of ice into water was taken as 0 ° C, and its boiling point was indicated by the number 100.
Basic temperature scale in the metric system
Since 1960, most countries of the world have made the transition to a metric system in which two scales are used: Celsius and Kelvin. The most common thermometers in everyday life, technology and meteorology are Celsius divisions, which take into account the transformations of the most common terrestrial substance - water. In the Kelvin scale used in scientific research, the beginning of the reference temperature is the state of the body in which it has the least internal energy. The United States and Great Britain did not fully switch to the International System of Units (SI). In these and several other English-speaking countries, thermometers with different scales are used.
Temperature comparison
In the Fahrenheit temperature scale, there is a range from 0 ° to 100 °. The same range on the Celsius scale corresponds to the interval from −18 ° to 38 °. The Kelvin scale uses the concept of absolute zero. This is a temperature that is –273.2 ° C or –459.7 ° F. You can translate 451 degrees Fahrenheit, which will be 233 ° C.
Different temperatures can be converted into each other, and these calculations are in demand in the USA and the UK, where, as part of the standardization process, in many areas of scientific activity and production they refused to use the Fahrenheit scale, but it still remains common in everyday life. If necessary, residents of English-speaking countries convert Fahrenheit to degrees Celsius, knowing that the temperature range of 1 ° C is 1.8 ° F.
Ray Bradbury "451 degrees Fahrenheit"
Until 1960, the Fahrenheit scale was the main one in English-speaking countries, it was used in climatology, medicine, industry and everyday life. Ray Bradbury finished his novel in 1953, and in the epigraph indicated that 451 degrees Fahrenheit is the ignition temperature of the paper. The protagonist of the work lives in the distant future and works as a "firefighter", but does not fight fire, but burns books.
The American classic of the fantasy genre devoted his dystopian novel to the problems of moral choice, the struggle against totalitarian systems, which fascism became an embodiment of in the 20th century. After coming to power in Germany, Adolf Hitler initiated the destruction of libraries, the burning of books. In this way, the Fuhrer wanted to eradicate any manifestations of dissent, to impose a Nazi ideology on his fellow citizens. The ancient temperature scale and physical quantity - degrees Fahrenheit - are gradually becoming a thing of the past, but the ideas raised in the novel remain relevant.