Another article from FOCUS, an English magazine.
September 2002
Why does Fahrenheit scale start at 32 degrees
by Daniel Winterton / Robert Matthews
Page 56
Robert Matthews: The scale was set up by the German physicist Daniel Fahrenheit in 1714 to exploit the ability of his new theromometer to work across a wide range of temperatures. For 0 degrees F he made up a mixture of freezing salt water. All very sensible - except he also decided to make the boiling point of water 212 degrees F, so that it was preceisly 180 degrees above its freezing point of 32 degrees F. In contrast, the modern Celsius scale fixes the difference at a neat 100 degrees, with zero being the freezing point of water. However, Fahreneheit's scale does have some advantages: it makes minus temperatures less common (0 degrees F is a very nipping -18 degrees C), and allows for more precise measurements of temperature without having to use fractions of a degree. Oddly enough, Fahrenheit and Celsius scales coincide at -40 degrees: the temperature at which mercury thermometers freeze.
temperature
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