Eli5: I’m trying to find the best way to word this but how does one measure “negative degrees”, like in temperature, like how do you quantify the absence of something that isn’t tangible?

Question

Eli5: I’m trying to find the best way to word this but how does one measure “negative degrees”, like in temperature, like how do you quantify the absence of something that isn’t tangible?

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

For temperature: 0 in Celsius is where water freezes, since temperature can be colder than that, it goes into the negatives. 32 in Fahrenheit is where water freezes so the concept is the same.

Kelvin is the measurement where there is not a negative degree. When you reach 0 Kelvin (which as far as I know still has not been achieved) this is the absolute coldest anything could theoretically be