Fahrenheit Temperature Scale | Definition, Formula, & Facts | Britannica

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External Websites

• Lakehead University - Origin of temperature scales
• LiveScience - What is temperature? Facts about Fahrenheit, Celsius and Kelvin scales

Fahrenheit temperature scale Ask Anything Written and fact-checked by Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Britannica Editors Last updated Dec. 5, 2025 •History Britannica AI Ask Anything Table of Contents Table of Contents Ask Anything

Fahrenheit temperature scale, scale based on 32° for the freezing point of water and 212° for the boiling point of water, the interval between the two being divided into 180 equal parts. The 18th-century physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit originally took as the zero of his scale the temperature of an equal ice-salt mixture and selected the values of 30° and 90° for the freezing point of water and normal body temperature, respectively; these later were revised to 32° and 96°, but the final scale required an adjustment to 98.6° for the latter value.

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The Fahrenheit temperature scale is used in the United States; the Celsius, or centigrade, scale is employed in most other countries and for scientific purposes worldwide. The conversion formula for a temperature that is expressed on the Celsius (°C) scale to its Fahrenheit (°F) representation is: °F = (9/5 × °C) + 32.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Rick Livingston.