Rankine scale | EPFL Graph Search

Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?

Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of GraphSearch.

The Rankine scale (ˈræŋkɪn) is an absolute scale of thermodynamic temperature named after the University of Glasgow engineer and physicist Macquorn Rankine, who proposed it in 1859. Similar to the Kelvin scale, which was first proposed in 1848, zero on the Rankine scale is absolute zero, but a temperature difference of one Rankine degree (°R or °Ra) is defined as equal to one Fahrenheit degree, rather than the Celsius degree used on the Kelvin scale. In converting from kelvin to degrees Rankine, 1 K = 9/5 °R or 1 K = 1.8 °R. A temperature of 0 K (−273.15 °C; −459.67 °F) is equal to 0 °R. The Rankine scale is still used in engineering systems where heat computations are done using degrees Fahrenheit. The symbol for degrees Rankine is °R (or °Ra if necessary to distinguish it from the Rømer and Réaumur scales). By analogy with the SI unit, the kelvin, some authors term the unit Rankine, omitting the degree symbol. Some temperatures relating the Rankine scale to other temperature scales are shown in the table below.

About this result

This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.

Related concepts (13)

Related courses (1)

Related lectures (32)

ME-409: Energy conversion and renewable energy

This course presents an overview of (i) the current energy system and uses (ii) the main principles of conventional and renewable energy technologies and (iii) the most important parameters that defin

Boltzmann constant

The Boltzmann constant (kB or k) is the proportionality factor that relates the average relative thermal energy of particles in a gas with the thermodynamic temperature of the gas. It occurs in the definitions of the kelvin and the gas constant, and in Planck's law of black-body radiation and Boltzmann's entropy formula, and is used in calculating thermal noise in resistors. The Boltzmann constant has dimensions of energy divided by temperature, the same as entropy. It is named after the Austrian scientist Ludwig Boltzmann.

Celsius

The degree Celsius is the unit of temperature on the Celsius scale (originally known as the centigrade scale outside Sweden), one of two temperature scales used in the International System of Units (SI), the other being the Kelvin scale. The degree Celsius (symbol: °C) can refer to a specific temperature on the Celsius scale or a unit to indicate a difference or range between two temperatures. It is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius (1701–1744), who developed a variant of it in 1742.

Kelvin

The 'kelvin', symbol K, is a unit of measurement for temperature. The Kelvin scale is an absolute scale, which is defined such that 0 K is absolute zero and a change of thermodynamic temperature T by 1 kelvin corresponds to a change of thermal energy kT by 1.380649e−23J. The Boltzmann constant was exactly defined in the 2019 redefinition of the SI base units such that the triple point of water is 273.16K. The kelvin is the base unit of temperature in the International System of Units (SI), used alongside its prefixed forms.

Compressibility and Thermal Expansion

Explores compressibility and thermal expansion in materials, discussing volume and dimension changes with pressure and temperature variations.

Phase Transitions: Boiling, Triple Point PHYS-106(a): General physics : thermodynamics

Explores phase transitions, evaporation, boiling, coexistence of phases, and the Kelvin scale.

Temperature: Definition and Measurement PHYS-105: Advanced physics II (thermodynamics)

Covers the definition and measurement of temperature, including the Kelvin scale and the relationship between Celsius and Kelvin scales.