Descrizione

The temperature of a body, therefore, is a quantity which indicates how hot or how cold the body is. When we say that the temperature of one body is higher or lower than that of another, we mean that the first body is hotter or colder than the second, but we also imply that we refer the state of both bodies to a certain scale of tempe ratures. By the use, therefore, of the word temperature, we fix in our minds the conviction that it is possible, not only to feel, but to measure, how hot a body is. Words of this kind, which express the same things as the words of primitive language, but express them in a way susceptible of accurate numerical statement, are called scientificl terms, because they contribute to the growth of science.