On Sat, 2 Mar 2002, James R. Frysinger wrote: > ... we moved from the centigrade scale with two reference > points to the Celsius scale with one reference point and a defined > interval size.
> I believe that's the nut of the matter, though perhaps there are some > subtleties omitted above. Jim, Some additional subtleties are the phase equilibrium temperatures of gold, silver, mercury, oxygen, etc. which are "fixed points" on the "International Temperature Scale-90" for measurements beyond the range of an ordinary Celsius thermometer. (NIST Technical Note 1265, 1990) Nevertheless, I agree with your statement that the Celsius scale has only *one* fixed point (273.15 kelvins) and one interval (one kelvin) whereas the centigrade scale had two fixed points, the ice point, and the boiling point of pure water. Gene.
