Dwight Hedden, age 8, of Pisgah Forest, N.C., for his question:

WHAT IS THE CELSIUS SCALE?

The Celsius scale is used for measuring temperature. In the United States the Fahrenheit scale serves for most purposes, but the Celsius scale will come into greater use as the United States changes to the metric system.

An astronomer from Sweden named Anders Celsius developed the scale in 1742. On this scale, zero is the freezing point of water and 100 degrees is the boiling point of water. Between these fixed points, Celsius divided his scale into 100 equal parts.

Temperatures below the freezing point of water have a minus sign on the Celsius scale. The lowest temperature possible in theory is called absolute zero. This temperature would give a Celsius reading of minus 273.15 degrees.