Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Temperature Fundamentals

Published

Author(s)

Benjamin K. Tsai, Graham Machin

Abstract

In this chapter the basic principles of temperature, its definition and measurement are given. Beginning with a brief outline of the fundamental principles, the reader is introduced to the concept of thermodynamic temperature and some of the primary means of its determination. The requirement for a defined scale is explained and a brief historical outline of temperature scales is given including a description of the current temperature scale, the International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS 90). Easy access to that scale, in the context of radiation thermometry, is the concern of the next section with the issues of calibration, traceability and accreditation addressed. This is followed by a discussion of how to determine uncertainties in temperature measurement with the emphasis firmly on non-contact thermometry. The chapter concludes with a forward look, discussing possible approaches that could lead to better non-contact thermometry scale realisation and dissemination in the future.
Citation
Radiometric Temperature Measurements and Applications
Volume
42
Publisher Info
Academic Press, San Diego, CA

Keywords

accreditation, calibration, ITS-90, radiation thermometry, temperature, temperature scales, thermodynamic temperature, traceability, uncertainties

Citation

Tsai, B. and Machin, G. (2009), Temperature Fundamentals, Academic Press, San Diego, CA (Accessed October 31, 2024)

Issues

If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact reflib@nist.gov.

Created December 29, 2009, Updated February 19, 2017