Why do scientists measure temapture in kelvins or degrees Celsius's rather than degrees Fahrenheit?

Answer 1

This is because the Kelvin scale is the only absolute scale. This means that 20 K is twice as hot as 10 K - a relationship which is not true for the other measurement scales used for measuring temperature. It also means that the 0 point of the Kelvin scale is the minimum possible temperature: the point at which all thermodynamic would cease - if this temperature could be attained. The Celsius scale is closely linked to the Kelvin scale because a Celsius degree is the same as a Kelvin.

The Fahrenheit scale is based on too many arbitrary points: a 0 which is the coldest temperature of an ice and salt mixture, 32 as the freezing point of water, a 180 degree spread between the freezing and boiling points of water. Nothing really that fits in with anything that matters. The only redeeming feature of the F scale is that the degrees are small enough that in clod places, where differences of half degrees do matter, the F scale is more useful.