| Revision as of 14:18, 19 October 2004 editHeron (talk | contribs)Administrators29,256 edits 273.15 and 273.16← Previous edit | Revision as of 13:39, 10 December 2004 edit undoGene Nygaard (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users90,047 edits clarification about capitalizationNext edit → | ||
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| ::''The 13th CGPM (1967-1968, Resolution 3) adopted the name kelvin (symbol K) instead of "degree Kelvin" (symbol °K) and defined the unit of thermodynamic temperature as follows (Resolution 4): ... '' | ::''The 13th CGPM (1967-1968, Resolution 3) adopted the name kelvin (symbol K) instead of "degree Kelvin" (symbol °K) and defined the unit of thermodynamic temperature as follows (Resolution 4): ... '' | ||
| :On the other hand, Celsius has a capital C because it hasn't been adopted by the SI. -- ] 08:25, 30 Jun 2004 (UTC) | :On the other hand, Celsius has a capital C because it hasn't been adopted by the SI. -- ] 08:25, 30 Jun 2004 (UTC) | ||
| ::No. Celsius has a capital C because it's one of the quirks of the English language (these are language-specific rules; it's different in German, for example, with all nouns capitalized) that the nouns naming units after people are not capitalized, but the proper adjectives identifying particular ones of ambiguous unit names are capitalized. Thus, when kelvins were called "degrees Kelvin" they also had a capital K, and the R is capitalized in degrees Rankine. | |||
| ::Furthermore, you are also wrong about degrees Celsius not being adopted by the CGPM. They are indeed part of the SI (which, as a system of measurement, cannot "adopt" anything), a derived unit with a special name.] 13:39, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC) | |||
| In case anyone's interested, here's , which is where I confirmed my suspicion that a space belongs between the number and the symbol for Kelvins, unlike in many places in Misplaced Pages. NASA occasionally has trouble with units, but hopefully they can spell them right. -- ] 01:47, 4 Aug 2004 (UTC) | In case anyone's interested, here's , which is where I confirmed my suspicion that a space belongs between the number and the symbol for Kelvins, unlike in many places in Misplaced Pages. NASA occasionally has trouble with units, but hopefully they can spell them right. -- ] 01:47, 4 Aug 2004 (UTC) | ||
Revision as of 13:39, 10 December 2004
Is the Kelvin temperature scale actually supposed to be written as a lower-case k? I thought k stood for kilo- and K stood for Kelvins. --24.72.34.179 22:44, 14 Jun 2004 (UTC)
I think they meant that:
- A "kelvin" is written with a lowercase "k", just like "ampere" is written with a lowercase "a", even though it's named after a person too.
- However, the abbreviation for a kelvin is an uppercase "K", just like the abbreviation for an ampere is an uppercase "A".
200 K = 200 kelvins
200 A = 200 amperes
Perhaps the wording needs some clarification, or perhaps it's unnecessary. -- Curps 23:46, 14 Jun 2004 (UTC)
Page 31 of the United States National Institue of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Puplication 811 (Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI)) states that unit names should be spelled out in full like any other English noun, with lower-case letters, except at the start of a sentence or in a title. However, if you write "degree Kelvin", Kelvin should be capitalized (since it's a type of degree, same way you'd write "Kennedy High School" and "high school") The publication actually uses celsius for the example but it's the same principle. A capital K should be used when abbreviating, since the unit is named after a person. -- Uberdog 02:14, 30 Jun 2004 (UTC)
- According to the BIPM (see here), the "degree Kelvin" ceased to exist 36 years ago:
- The 13th CGPM (1967-1968, Resolution 3) adopted the name kelvin (symbol K) instead of "degree Kelvin" (symbol °K) and defined the unit of thermodynamic temperature as follows (Resolution 4): ...
- On the other hand, Celsius has a capital C because it hasn't been adopted by the SI. -- Heron 08:25, 30 Jun 2004 (UTC)
- No. Celsius has a capital C because it's one of the quirks of the English language (these are language-specific rules; it's different in German, for example, with all nouns capitalized) that the nouns naming units after people are not capitalized, but the proper adjectives identifying particular ones of ambiguous unit names are capitalized. Thus, when kelvins were called "degrees Kelvin" they also had a capital K, and the R is capitalized in degrees Rankine.
- Furthermore, you are also wrong about degrees Celsius not being adopted by the CGPM. They are indeed part of the SI (which, as a system of measurement, cannot "adopt" anything), a derived unit with a special name.Gene Nygaard 13:39, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)
In case anyone's interested, here's a NASA styleguide, which is where I confirmed my suspicion that a space belongs between the number and the symbol for Kelvins, unlike in many places in Misplaced Pages. NASA occasionally has trouble with units, but hopefully they can spell them right. -- Tantalate 01:47, 4 Aug 2004 (UTC)
- I agree. The American NIST checklist mandates a space between every number and its unit. The official SI brochure always uses a space (e.g. here), but I can't find an explicit statement on the BIPM site that a space is required. -- Heron 08:13, 4 Aug 2004 (UTC)
- This topic comes up occasionally in other discussions. ISO 31-0 and the UK equivalent BS 5775 apparently recommend a space before the unit, but I have not seen the original text of either. I also find the recommendation in:
- The scope of the references certainly includes metric units. Whether the authors would recommend the same format for non-metric units is unclear to me. It may be implicit in the IEE reference and the unseen ISO and BS references. I would be surprised if any respectable author/editor would specifically want all copy to have spaces before metric units but not before imperial units. In summary, there are respectable references that say a space should be used and none that say a space should absent. Where each character is costly (such as on a cellular phone display), I don't think people worry too much if the space is absent, but Misplaced Pages pages have plenty of room for space characters.
- Bobblewik 09:17, 7 Aug 2004 (UTC)
Any reason why both 273.16 ("...one kelvin is the fraction 1/273.16 of...") and 273.15 ("°C = K − 273.15") is used? which is the right one?
- They are both right. 273.16 is the definition of the kelvin with respect to the triple point of water. 273.15 is the offset between the Celsius scale and the kelvin. See the BIPM website. --Heron 14:18, 19 Oct 2004 (UTC)