Celsius vs Centigrade
Temperature is a physical property of matter and, with this, we express an idea about hot and cold. Materials with low temperature are cold, and materials with high temperatures are hot. As temperature increases, materials become hotter. Temperature variation is connected with heat flow. Usually, heat flows from higher temperature to the lower temperature. When temperature is varying, materials undergo changes. For example, water exists as ice in lower temperatures. At 0 oC, which is known as the melting point, ice melts and converts into liquid water. Then, as heat is supplied, temperature of water gradually increases and starts to boil. At the point where water starts to evaporate and goes into the gaseous phase, the temperature is known as boiling point. For water, this is about 100 oC. Upon further heating, gaseous phase water can increase the temperature. Temperature is measured using thermometers. They are calibrated, and there are different types of thermometers for different purposes. The temperature ranges, which the thermometers are designed to measure, differ according to the purpose. For example, there are thermometers designed to measure very high temperatures and very low temperatures. The temperatures, which are used to measure the body temperature, are calibrated to measure the values up to about 120 oC. Temperature controlling and measuring is very important in the laboratory for most of the experiments. Most standard values and standard conditions are defined for 25 oC temperature. Temperature can be measured in various units like Celsius, Fahrenheit, and Kelvin etc. However, the unit of temperature in the International System of Units (SI) is the Kelvin. It is important to know the different units, where to use them and the unit conversions.
Celsius
Celsius is the most commonly used unit to measure the temperature in almost all the countries. Temperature is recorded as degree Celsius oC in this scale. The conventional way to record the Celsius temperature is to leave a space between the numerical value and the unit. For example, the boiling point of water is 100 oC, not 100oC or 100 o C. This is named after a Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius, to acknowledge his work on a similar type of temperature measuring scale. Originally, in this scale, 0 oC is defined as the freezing point and 100 oC is defined as the boiling point of water. However, later in the General Conference of Weights and Measures, they defined Celsius temperature as Kelvin minus 273.15. It is important to know the temperature conversion from Celsius to Kelvin and Fahrenheit because they are also used commonly in laboratories. The following two equations can be used for the conversions.
[°C] = ([°F] − 32) × 5⁄9
[°C] = [K] − 273.15
Therefore,
0 K = −273.15 °C = −459.67 °F
Centigrade
Centigrade was the initially used name instead of Celsius. The zero value here cannot be defined precisely. In this scale, 0 oC is defined as the freezing point and 100 oC is defined as the boiling point of water. Therefore, later in the General Conference of Weights and Measures, the unit was standardized and redefined as the Celsius scale.
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What is the difference between Celsius and Centigrade? • Celsius and centigrade are more or less the same scale where freezing point of water is at 0 degrees, and boiling point is at 100 degrees, but the Celsius scale uses a zero that can be precisely defined. • In centigrade scale, the freezing point is defined as 0 degrees, which is not precise but, in the Celsius scale, it is defined as the triple point of water, which is 0.01°C. The triple point can be measured accurately and precisely than the freezing point of water.
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