Depending on how old you are, you might read 38°C as 38 degrees Celsius or 38 degrees centigrade. Why are there two names for °C and what's the difference? Here's the answer:Celsius and centigrade are two names for essentially the same temperature scale (with slight differences). The centigrade scale is divided into degrees based on dividing the temperature between which water freezes and boils into 100 equal gradients or degrees. The word centigrade comes from "centi-" for 100 and "grade" for gradients. The centigrade scale was introduced in 1744 and remained the primary scale of temperature until 1948. In 1948 the CGPM (Conference General des Poids et Measures) decided to standardize several units of measurement, including the temperature scale. Since the "grade" was in use as a unit (including the "centigrade"), a new name was chosen for the temperature scale: Celsius.
The Celsius scale remains a centigrade scale in which there are 100 degrees from the freezing point (0°C) and boiling point (100°C) of water, though the size of the degree has been more precisely defined. A degree Celsius (or a Kelvin) is what you get when divide the thermodynamic range between absolute zero and the triple point of a specific type of water into 273.16 equal parts. There is a 0.01°C difference between the triple point of water and the freezing point of water at standard pressure.
Comments
Hi! Madam,
Thank you for your unmeasurable sharing of knowledge. I am a teacher of chemistry and I was used the two words similarly to teach. But now I get their difference easly.
Thanks for sharing the difference. Its quite good
WHAT IS TRIPPLE POINT OF WATER MEAN ?
Triple is the point where the three phase such as solid, liquid and vapour is exiting.
thanks a lot for ur valuable guidance
That’s hot. Precisely hot.
This answer was very useful to me in my research as I have never understood the difference before.
Thanks
sorry, i accidentally duplicated this comment.
This answer was very useful to me in my research as I have never understood the difference before.
Thanks for the help.
Very helpful. Thank you
Thankyou to be here for our guidness, God bless you
Thanks now it is for me to understand chemistry better
You say it changed from centigrade to celcius in 1948 but we still used centigrade into the 1970′s plus
Thanks for sharing the knowledge..
Its very usefull…
I thing we have to name the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius (1701–1744) who developed the temperature scale a few years before his death.
I was tempted to take this seriously, but when you said “A degree Celsius (or a Kelvin)”, I decided to get a second opinion. Kelvins are not degrees Celsius. Thank you for your time, “doctor.”
A change of a degree Celsius is equal to change in one Kelvin. Delta C was implied by the statement. I certainly hope you were trolling.
Thanks a lot for sharing this difference in degree centigrade and Celsius.
Thank you for sharing the knowledge…
Thanks, excellent explanation. very nice guidence.
Vara Kumar
Hyderabad-India
I am sure i heard once that whilst both c and c have 100 degrees, one c originally had 100 as freezing and 0 as boiling.
Is there any truth to this?
And by the way, if grades are units what are they?
I’ve never heard of them (except in the context of exams rather than units).
Anders Celsius defined the original Centigrade scale where the boiling point of water was 0 and freezing 100. After he died in 1744, Linnaeus defined it in the reverse direction with freezing at 0. In 1948, it was renamed Celsius because centigrade had other meanings in Spanish and French. Celsius, due to imprecise measurement at the time, turned out to be defined as slightly different from Centigrade. (Celsius doesn’t use either freezing point or boiling point in the definition. it uses absolute 0 and the triple point defined a 0.01 C). and they got that slightly wrong.
How disappointing that a teacher of chemistry doesn’t know the difference between celcius and centigrade, and worse, used the two terms interchangeably. Even worse still, relied on a questions forum to find out! Unbelievable.
I got so much info about celsius and centigrade scale.Thanks!
Thank you very much for your kind information.
It helped me to clear a confusious discussion with. My father.
Please tell me in detail about the thermodynamic range between absolute zero and triple point of specific water into 273.16 equal parts
Thank a lot whatever the guys are discussed about centigrade & celsius.
How disappointing that ANON can’t spell Celsius. If you read his/her comment….believable!
People like ANON wont get sleep unless they fool themselves anyways Nice Explanation by Anne Marie Helmenstine
i cant understand plz give me some extra example.
hey thank u for conveying the difference between celsius and centigrade . I really browsed a lot for this but you conveyed it simply .
People like anon just get their kicks by feeling smug and superior from pretending that they’re knowledgeable when the likelihood is that they aren’t. “What?” doesn’t seem to understand that, with the present definition of the Kelvin scale, the a difference of between 2 degrees of C is the same as the difference between 2 of K. Either that or they failed to understand the written English of the sentence. If “What?” had of understood either of these things they wouldn’t have posted such a disrespectful comment. Methinks: Trolls.
I just came across this explanation and appreciate the precise answer.
Anon and What? Would like to feel superior. In fact all people who do so do it because they are in fact insecure at heart. Please keep up the good work
I’m sure Anon and What r very intelligent, very beautiful, powerful and wealthy.. certainly don’t have anything to prove. The mirror is a scary place for most.. But most don’t feel it necessary to leak their insecurities like a bad dog seeking attention. I thought this was a fine, and simple explanation of the subject. Thank you for sharing the distinction.
Thank u for your precious knowledge sharring…..
Now I know:) Nicely explained..Thanks
The centigrade scale was introduced in 1743 by Jean-Pierre Christin.
Triple point is where the three phases, ice, liquid and vapour exist in equilibrium.
It’s so good………..I love to get the knowledge about thing to which I have serious misapprehensive. Thanks for informing.
I find people from the UK are more likely to say centigrade over Celsius
Thank Dr. for your explanation I never really understood the diffrence before. Thank everyone for there input even the mean ones. Have a wonderful day everybody!
how does this scale deal with the heat involved in the change of state…I know that snow can sublimate and go directly from solid to gas, but?
I searched many places to find the REASON for this change (after the new name bothered me for years), and yours was the only site which included that reason. Thanks for writing this article.
Thank you. very useful to me.
It would be more accurate to say that Centigrade is the old name for the scale, which was abandoned by scientists and engineers in 1948 when the new name Celcius was adopted. Unfortunately, old habits are hard to break, so the name Centigrade hasn’t disappeared yet.
It’s interesting to know the provenance of the terms Celsius and centrigrade vis-a-vis expressing temperature measurements. But it’s of no practical use, since in textbooks and articles, values are almost always written as degrees C and F. Authors don’t mention whether the C stands for centrigrade or Celsius, probably because common lab instruments don’t express, or should we say “bother with,” a difference as slight as might be needed to separate the two C scales.
It’s interesting to know the provenance of the terms centigrade and Celsius as regards temperature. But the difference isn’t of much practical use to students and probably to serious scientists, since the instruments we use apparently aren’t designed to take that difference into account or call it to our attention. In fact, at no point in my experience with chemistry at the undergraduate and graduate levels was the difference even alluded to.
Thanks very very thanks
Thanks alot. It was helpful indeed.
I didn’t find this terribly helpful. It seems like you never actually explain the difference between the two scales–you just say one is more precisely defined. The definition of a degree seems irrelevant to the rest.
Thanks a lot mam..
Thank u mam
Thank you, very helpful. I was watching a documentary and they used both Celsius and Centigrade. Now I understand that they are essentially the same thing. Thank you!