The Kelvin

The Kelvin is a unit of temperature. A temperature of 273 Kelvin corresponds to a temperature of about zero degrees Celsius.

273 K ~ 0°C

Room temperature (in Bangkok) is ~300 K.

Boyle and Charles are remembered for making careful measurements on many different gasses. They found that at low pressures PV is constant at constant temperature (Boyle's law) and that V is proportional to temperature T in Kelvins at constant pressure (Charles' law). The two laws are combined in the one well known equation....

PV = nRT

... where n is the number of moles and R is the gas constant.

The temperature T is in Kelvins. The equation can be derived from the principles of mechanics for an ideal gas. The absolute temperature in Kelvins is found to correspond to the average kinetic energy of gas molecules in random motion.

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