Question

Your window thermometer shows that the temperature outdoors is 89.3°f. how should you report this temperature to your friend in israel (i.e., on the celsius scale) and to your si-enthusiastic physicist neighbor (i.e., on the kelvin scale)?

Answer 1

a) Conversion from Fahrenheit to Celsius:
The relationship between the two scales is the following

`T_f = (9)/(5)T_c + 32`
where

`T_f` is the temperature in Fahrenheit

`T_c` is the temperature in Celsius

Re-arranging the formula, we find the inverse relationship:

`T_c= (5)/(9)(T_f-32)`
and we can use this equation to convert
`T_f = 89.3^(\circ)F` into Celsius:

`T_c = (5)/(9)(89.3-32)=31.7^(\circ) C`

(b) Conversion to Kelvin scale:
The conversion between Celsius scale and Kelvin scale is easier:

`T_k = T_c + 273.1`
where
`T_k` is the temperature in Kelvin. Using
`T_c = 31.7^(\circ) C`, we find

`T_k = 31.7 + 273.1 = 304.8 K`