Rankine scale
The Rankine scale is an absolute temperature scale whose degree intervals equal Fahrenheit degrees and whose zero is absolute zero.
Fahrenheit: A temperature scale in which water freezes at 32 degrees and boils at 212 degrees under standard atmospheric pressure. Rankine uses the same size degree interval as Fahrenheit.
Fahrenheit to Rankine conversion: The conversion that adds 459.67 to a Fahrenheit temperature to obtain its Rankine value. It places Fahrenheit readings on an absolute scale without changing degree size.
William John Macquorn Rankine: A Scottish engineer and physicist whose work helped establish thermodynamics as an engineering science. The temperature scale bears his surname.
Steam engineering: The engineering of systems that produce, distribute, or use steam for heat and mechanical work. Steam calculations can use Rankine when temperatures are otherwise reported in Fahrenheit.
Absolute zero: The lowest possible thermodynamic temperature, at which a system has minimum thermal energy. Rankine sets its zero at this limiting temperature.
Celsius to Rankine conversion: The conversion from Celsius temperature to Rankine, given by multiplying by nine-fifths and adding 491.67. It combines the Celsius-to-Fahrenheit interval ratio with Rankine’s absolute zero.
Thermodynamics: The branch of physics that studies heat, work, temperature, and energy transformations. The scale arose from the need for absolute temperature in thermodynamic calculations.
Gas laws: Relations describing how a gas’s pressure, volume, and temperature vary with one another. Absolute temperature values are required in their proportional relationships.
Thermodynamic temperature: Temperature defined on an absolute scale whose zero is absolute zero. Rankine is one scale for expressing thermodynamic temperature.
Kelvin to Rankine conversion: The conversion from kelvins to degrees Rankine, given by multiplying by nine-fifths. The two absolute scales differ only in degree interval size.