View source for Rømer scale


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'''Rømer''' is a disused [[temperature]] scale named after the [[Denmark|Danish]] [[astronomer]] [[Ole Rømer|Ole Christensen Rømer]], who proposed it in [[1701]]. 

In this scale, the zero was initially set using freezing [[brine]]. The boiling point of [[water]] was defined as 60 degrees. Rømer then saw that the freezing point of water fell at roughly one eighth of that value (7.5 degrees), so he used that value as the other fixed point. Thus the [[Units of measurement|unit]] of this scale, a Rømer degree, is 40/21 of a [[kelvin]] (or of a [[Celsius]] degree). The symbol is sometimes given as '''°R''', but since that is also sometimes used for the [[Rankine scale]], the other symbol '''°Rø''' is to be preferred. The name should not be confused with [[Réaumur scale|Réaumur]].

A plausible story of how the Fahrenheit scale was invented is that [[Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit]] learned of Rømer's work and visited him in [[1708]]; he improved on the scale, increasing the number of divisions by a factor of four and eventually establishing what is now known as the [[Fahrenheit]] scale, in [[1724]].

== See also ==
* [[Comparison of temperature scales]]

==External links==
* [http://home.comcast.net/~igpl/Temperature.html A Brief History of Temperature Measurement]

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[[Category:Obsolete units of measure]]
[[Category:Units of temperature]]

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