What is the Lord Kelvin absolute thermodynamic temperature scale?

The Kelvin scale is an absolute thermodynamic temperature scale developed in the 19th century by British scientist Lord Kelvin. It sets its zero point at absolute zero, the temperature at which particles have minimal thermal motion. While initially defined using macroscopic work and heat transfer, the modern kelvin is defined by setting the exact value of the Boltzmann constant to tie temperature directly to thermal energy.

What we know

• The Kelvin scale starts at absolute zero, taken to be 0 K, which is the lowest possible temperature. [2, 3, 4]
• The 19th-century British scientist Lord Kelvin first developed and proposed the absolute temperature scale. [2, 4, 5]
• The magnitude of a kelvin unit is identical to that of a degree Celsius. [2, 4]
• The 2019 SI revision redefined the kelvin in terms of energy by fixing the Boltzmann constant. [2, 4]

Where to go next

• whoWho was William Thomson, Lord Kelvin?
• compared withHow does the Celsius scale relate to absolute zero?
• how it workedWhat is absolute zero in physics?
• whenHow was the kelvin redefined in 2019?
• the bigger pictureWhat are temperature scales in metrology?
• an unexpected connectionHow did Lord Kelvin connect to Kodak?Lord Kelvin served as vice-chairman of the board of the British company Kodak Limited towards the end of his career.

Sources

• [1]kelvin (Wikidata Q11579) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Kelvin · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Scale of temperature · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Thermodynamic temperature · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Lord Kelvin · CC BY-SA 4.0