Temperature

Class 6 Science · Chapter 7: Temperature and its Measurement · NCERT Curiosity section 7.2

Learn

Temperature is a measure of how hot or cold something is. A hotter object has a higher temperature. We measure it with a thermometer.

In India we use the Celsius scale, written °C (degree Celsius). Ice melts at 0 °C and water boils at 100 °C. A summer day in the plains may be 40 °C; a winter night in the mountains can drop below 0 °C.

Other scales exist too: some countries use Fahrenheit (°F), where a healthy body is about 98.6 °F, and scientists often use the kelvin (K) scale.

Explore: set the thermometer.

1. Show the temperature at which ice melts.
2. Show the temperature at which water boils.
3. Show a hot summer day: 42 °C.

Remember

• Temperature measures hotness or coldness; it is measured with a thermometer in °C.
• Ice melts at 0 °C; water boils at 100 °C; a healthy body is about 37 °C.

Quick check

Water boils at …

1. 100 °C
2. 0 °C
3. 37 °C
4. 212 °C

Think about it

Look at a weather report for your town for this week. What were the highest and lowest temperatures? How big is the difference?

Practice

Practise with fresh questions at three levels (easy, medium, hard), some answered hands-on, with hints and worked answers. Get 4 of your last 5 right to finish the topic.