ABSTRACT
Intheearly1700's,theDutchscientistGabrielFahrenheit designedwhatwasgenerallyconsideredthefirstaccuratemercurythermometerwhere0°Fwasthefreezingpointofsaturatedsaltsolution,presumablysincethisconditionwasmore reproduciblymetthanabsolutelypurewater,and96°Fwas itshighestvalue(apparentlyrelatedtobodytemperature)[1). Mercurywasusedinplaceofitspredecessor,spiritsofwine, duetoitsmorelinearthermalexpansionbehavior[2).In1742, AndersCelsiusdesignedascaleinwhichthevalueofzerowas assignedtotheboilingpointofpurewater,and100wasassignedtothefreezingpoint.Later,thecentigrade(theterm meaningdividedinto100parts)scaleusedthesamedivisions butwiththeextremevaluesreversed.In1948,thismorefamiliarreversedscalewasofficiallyrenamedtheCelsiusscale. Intheearly1800's,WilliamThompson(LordKelvin)establishedthethermodynamictemperaturescale,wherebyitwas proventhatforaCarnotenginetobeperfectlyefficient,the coldreservoirmustbeataspecificabsolutezero(-273.15°C) temperature.1Measuringthepropertiesofidealgasesused asthermometersallowsextrapolationtoexperimentallydeter-
