Ask A Scientist© Weather Archive

 >>   name        Katelyn
 >>   status      student
 >>   age         13

Question -  Why do scientists use Celsius scale in their work?


>Katelyn,

>Celcius is part of the scientific set of units.  It also has a convenient, metric-like range of 0-100, 0 for the freezing point of water and 100 for the boiling point of water.  Did you know that -40 degrees F is the same temperature as -40 degrees C ?  Isn't that cool (a slight pun there)?

David Cook

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>   Scientists use the Centigrade or Celsius scale because it is a convenient
>standard for the measurement of temperature. It uses the freezing and
>boiling point of water as baselines, with the freezing point of water set at
>"zero" degrees, and the boiling point set at 100 degrees.
>
>Other scales could easily be used, but a standard is necessary in conducting
>experiments and communicating the results. The Celsius scale has been agreed
>to as being the commonly accepted standard by scientific bodies around the
>world.
>
>Wendell Bechtold, meteorologist
>Forecaster, National Weather Service
>Weather Forecast Office, St. Louis, MO
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