Kelvin

(kelvin)

adjective

designating or of a scale of thermodynamic temperature measured from absolute zero (-273.16°C): the formula for converting Celsius to Kelvin is °K=°C + 273.16

Origin: after 1st Baron Kelvin

noun

a basic unit of temperature on this scale, equal to one degree Celsius: abbrev. K

Kelvin, 1st Baron (William Thomson) 1824-1907; Brit. physicist & mathematician

See Kelvin in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun Abbr. K
  1. A unit of absolute temperature equal to 1/273.16 of the absolute temperature of the triple point of water. One kelvin degree is equal to one Celsius degree. See Table at measurement.
  2. Kelvin A temperature scale in which zero occurs at absolute zero and each degree equals one kelvin. Water freezes at 273.15 K and boils at 373.15 K.

Origin:

Origin: After First Baron Kelvin

.

, First Baron. Title of William Thomson. 1824-1907.

British physicist who developed the Kelvin scale of temperature (1848) and supervised the laying of a trans-Atlantic cable (1866).

Learn more about Kelvin

link/cite print suggestion box