Orders of magnitude (temperature)

Temperature in °C compared to the thermodynamic scale in electron volts, which are also used as a unit of temperature
FactorMultipleItem
00 KAbsolute zero: free bodies are still, no interaction within or without a thermodynamic system
10−30
1 qKParticular speeds bound paths to exceed size and lifetime of the universe, i.e. the particles total path traveled (but not the distance from its place of origin) since the beginning of the universe is less than the size of the universe[further explanation needed]
(see least-energy in orders of magnitude (energy))
10−18
1 aKMacroscopic teleportation of matter can occur
Hawking temperature of supermassive black holes
10−15
1 fKAtomic waves coherent over centimeters
atomic particles decoherent over centimeters
10−12
1 pK38 pK, lowest laboratory-produced temperature, achieved through matter-wave lensing of rubidium Bose-Einstein condensates.[1]
450 pK, lowest temperature sodium Bose–Einstein condensate gas ever achieved in the laboratory, at MIT[2]
10−9
1 nK50 nK, Fermi temperature of potassium-40
critical temperature of alkali Bose–Einstein condensates
10−6
1 μKNuclear demagnetization
Doppler-cooled refrigerants in laser cooling and magneto-optical traps
10−3
1 mKRadio excitations
1.7 mK, temperature record for helium-3/helium-4 dilution refrigeration, and the lowest temperature which may be sustained for arbitrarily long time with known techniques.
2.5 mK, Fermi melting point of helium-3
60 mK adiabatic demagnetization of paramagnetic molecules
300 mK in evaporative cooling of helium-3
700 mK, helium-3/helium-4 mixtures begin phase separation
950 mK, melting point of helium at 2.5 megapascals of pressure- All 118 elements are solid at or below this temperature.
microwave excitations
1
1 K1 K at the Boomerang Nebula, the coldest natural environment known
1.5 K, melting point of overbound helium
2.19 K, lambda point of overbound superfluid helium
2.725 K, cosmic microwave background
4.1 K, superconductivity point of mercury
4.22 K, boiling point of bound helium
5.19 K, critical temperature of helium
7.2 K, superconductivity point of lead
9.3 K, superconductivity point of niobium
10110 KFermi melting point of valence electrons for superconductivity
14.01 K, melting point of bound hydrogen
20.28 K, boiling point of bound hydrogen
33 K, critical temperature of hydrogen
44 K mean on Pluto
53 K mean of Neptune
63 K, melting point of bound nitrogen
68 K mean of Uranus
77.35 K, boiling point of bound nitrogen
90.19 K, boiling point of bound oxygen
92 K, superconductivity point of YBaCuoxide (YBCO)
102100 KInfrared excitations
134 K, highest-temperature superconductor at ambient pressure, mercury barium calcium copper oxide
165 K, glass point of supercooled water
184.0 K (–89.2 °C), coldest air recorded on Earth
192 K, Debye temperature of ice
273.15 K (0 °C), melting point of bound water
273.16 K (0.01 °C), temperature of triple point of water
~293 K, room temperature
373.15 K (100 °C), boiling point of bound water at sea level
647 K, critical point of superheated water
737.5 K, mean on Venus

See detailed list below

103
1 kKVisible light excitations
500–2200 K on brown dwarfs (photosphere)
1043 K Curie temperature of iron (point at which iron transitions from ferromagnetic to paramagnetic behavior and loses any permanent magnetism)
1170 K at wood fire
1300 K in lava flows, open flames
1500 K in basalt lava flows
~1670 K at blue candle flame
1811 K, melting point of iron (lower for steel)
1830 K in Bunsen burner flame
1900 K at the Space Shuttle orbiter hull in 8 km/s dive
2022 K, boiling point of lead

2074 K, surface temperature of the coolest star, 2MASS J0523-1403
2230 K, Debye temperature of carbon
2320 K at open hydrogen flame
2150–2450 K at open hydrocarbon flame
2900 K, color temperature of halogen lamps, blackbody radiation maximum at 1000 nm
3695 K, melting point of tungsten
3915 K, sublimation point of carbon
4231 K, melting point of hafnium carbide
4800 K, 10 MPa, triple point of carbon[3]
5000 K, 12 GPa melting point of diamond[4]
5100 K in cyanogen-dioxygen flame
5516 K at dicyanoacetylene (carbon subnitride)-ozone flame
5650 K at Earth's Inner Core Boundary
5780 K on surface of the Sun
5933 K, boiling point of tungsten
6000 K, mean of the Universe 300,000 years after the Big Bang
7445 K, 850 GPa;[5] 8750 K, 520 GPa;[6] 5400 K, 220 GPa,[7] critical point ofdiamond/solid III
7735 K, a monatomic ideal gas has one electron volt of kinetic energy
8000 K, routinely sustainable temperature in an analytical inductively coupled plasma
8801 K, 10.56 GPa[8] 7020.5 K, 797 MPa,[9] critical point of carbon
Anionic sparks

Ultraviolet excitations

10410 kK10 kK on Sirius A
10–15 kK in mononitrogen recombination
15.5 kK, critical point of tungsten
25 kK, mean temperature of the universe 10,000 years after the Big Bang
26 kK on white dwarf Sirius B
28 kK in record cationic lightning over Earth
29 kK on surface of Alnitak (easternmost star of Orion's belt)
4–8–40–160 kK on white dwarfs
30–400 kK on a planetary nebula's asymptotic giant helium star
36 kK boundary between inner and outer core within Jupiter
37 kK in protonelectron reactions
38 kK on Eta Carinae
46 kK on Wolf–Rayet star R136a1[10]
50 kK at protostar (core)
54.5 kK on ON2 III(f*) star LH64-16[11]
>200 kK on Butterfly Nebula
~300 kK at 17 meters from Little Boy's detonation
Fermi boiling point of valence electrons
X-ray excitations
106
1 MK0.8 MK in solar wind
gamma ray excitations
1 MK inside old neutron stars, brown dwarfs, and at gravital deuterium fusion range
1–3–10 MK above Sun (corona)
2.4 MK at T Tauri stars and gravital lithium-6 fusion range
2.5 MK at red dwarfs and gravital protium fusion range
10 MK at orange dwarfs and gravital helium-3 fusion range
15.6 MK at Sun's core
10–30–100 MK in stellar flares
20 MK in novae
23 MK, beryllium-7 fusion range
60 MK above Eta Carinae
85 MK (15 keV) in a magnetic confinement fusion plasma
200 MK at helium star and gravital helium-4 fusion range
230 MK, gravital carbon-12 fusion range
460 MK, gravital neon fusiondisproportionation range
5–530 MK in Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor's plasma
750 MK, gravital oxygen fusion range
109
1 GK1 GK, everything 100 seconds after the Big Bang
1.3–1.7 GK, gravital silicon fusion range
3 GK in electronpositron reactions
10 GK in supernovae
10 GK, everything 1 second after the Big Bang
700 GK in quasars' accretion discs
740 GK, Hagedorn temperature or Fermi melting point of pions
1012
1 TK0.1–1 TK at new neutron star
0.5–1.2 TK, Fermi melting point of hadrons into quark–gluon plasma
3–5 TK in protonantiproton reactions
3.6 TK, temperature at which matter doubles in mass (compared to its mass at 0 K) due to relativistic effects
5.5 TK, highest man-made temperature in thermal equilibrium as of 2015 (quark–gluon plasma from LHC collisions)[12]
10 TK, 100 microseconds after the Big Bang
45–67 TK at collapsar of a gamma-ray burst
300–900 TK at protonnickel conversions in the Tevatron's Main Injector[clarification needed]
1015
1 PK0.3–2.2 PK at protonantiproton collisions

2.8 PK within an electroweak star

1018
1 EK
1021
1 ZK
1024
1 YK0.5–7 YK at ultra-high-energy cosmic ray collisions
1027
1 RKeverything 10−35 seconds after the Big Bang
1030
1 QKHagedorn temperature of strings
1032
100 QK142 QK, Planck temperature
1033
1000 QKTheory of everything excitations[citation needed]
10290
10260 QKLandau pole of Quantum electrodynamics

Detailed list for 100 K to 1000 K

Most ordinary human activity takes place at temperatures of this order of magnitude. Circumstances where water naturally occurs in liquid form are shown in light grey.

KelvinDegrees
Celsius
Degrees
Fahrenheit
Condition
100 K−173.15 °C−279.67 °F
133 K−140 °C−220  °FMean on Saturn[13]
133 K to 163 K−140 to −110 °C−220 to −160 °FTypical temperature of a whole-body cryotherapy chamber[14]
163 K−110 °C−166  °FMean on Jupiter[13]
165 K−108 °C−163 °FGlass point of supercooled water (Debatable)[15]
175.4 K−97.8 °C−144 °FColdest luminance temperature recorded on Earth (measured remotely by satellite), in Antarctica[16]
183.7 K−89.5 °C−129.1 °FFreezing/melting point of isopropyl alcohol[17]
183.9 K−89.2 °C−128.6 °FColdest officially recorded air temperature on Earth, at Vostok Station, Antarctica on 1983-07-21 01:45 UTC
192 K−81 °C−114 °FDebye temperature of ice
193 to 203 K−80 to −70 °C−112 to −94 °FTypical temperature of a ULT freezer
194.6 K−78.5 °C−109.3 °FSublimation point of carbon dioxide (dry ice)
203.55 K−69.6 °C−93.3 °FColdest officially recorded air temperature in the Northern Hemisphere at Klinck AWS, Greenland (Denmark) on 1991-12-22[18]
205.5 K−67.7 °C−89.9 °FColdest officially recorded air temperature on the Eurasian continent at Oymyakon, USSR on 1933-02-06[19]
210 K−63 °C−80 °FMean on Mars
214.9 K–58.3 °C–72.9 °FColdest annual mean temperature on Earth, at Dome Argus, Antarctica[20]
223.15 K−50 °C−58 °FMean on Earth during Snowball Earth[21] around 650 million years ago
224.8 K−48.4 °C−55.0 °FColdest temperature that water can remain a liquid (see supercooling)
225 K−48 °C−55 °FFreezing/melting point of cottonseed oil[22]
233.15 K−40 °C−40 °FIntersecting point of the Celsius and Fahrenheit temperature scales
Skin may freeze almost instantly at or below this temperature[23]
234.3 K−38.83 °C−37.89 °FFreezing/melting point of mercury
240.4 K−32.8 °C−27.0 °FColdest air temperature recorded in South America, at Sarmiento, Argentina on 1907-06-01[24]
246 K−27 °C−17 °FApproximate average yearly temperature on Mount Everest[25]
249 K–24 °C–11 °FFreezing/melting point of flax seed oil[22]
249.3 K–23.9 °C–11.0 °FColdest air temperature recorded in Africa, at Ifrane, Morocco on 1935-02-11[24]
250 K–23 °C–9 °FColdest air temperature recorded in Australia, at Charlotte Pass, New South Wales, Australia on 1994-06-29[24]
255.37 K–1779 °C0 °FColdest brine-ice solution found by Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit
255 K–18 °C0 °FFreezing/melting point of almond oil[22]
Typical temperature of a household freezer[26]
256 K–17 °C1 °FFreezing/melting point of sunflower oil[22]
256 K–17 °C2 °FFreezing/melting point of safflower oil[22]
257 K–16 °C3 °FFreezing/melting point of soybean oil[22]
262 K−11 °C12 °FFreezing/melting point of corn oil[22]
263.15 K–10 °C14 °FFreezing/melting point of canola oil[22]
Freezing/melting point of grape seed oil[22]
265 K–8 °C18 °FWhite frost can form below this temperature (see frost)
Freezing/melting point of hemp seed oil[22]
265.8 K–7.2 °C19 °FFreezing/melting point of bromine
267 K–6 °C21 °FFreezing/melting point of olive oil[22]
Freezing/melting point of sesame oil[22]
271.15 K−2 °C28.4 °FAverage freezing/melting point of oceans, the salinity is around 3.47%.[27][28]
273.14 K-0.01 °C31.98 °FMaximum temperature of an object causing frostbite
273.15 K0.00 °C32.00 °FFreezing/melting point of fresh water (at 1 atm pressure)
273.16 K0.01 °C32.02 °FTriple point of fresh water
276 K3 °C37 °FFreezing/melting point of peanut oil[29]
277 K3.85 °C39 °FTypical temperature of a household refrigerator
277.13 K3.98 °C39.16 °FWater is at maximum density[30]
279.8 K6.67 °C44 °FThreshold of skin numbness if skin reaches this temperature
283.2 K10 °C50 °FMinimum temperature for most plant growth (see Growing degree-day)
286.9 K12.7 °C54.9 °FColdest body temperature of a human that survived accidental hypothermia (a 2-year-old boy in Racławice, Poland, on November 30, 2014)[31][32]
287.6 K14.44 °C58 °FCold threshold of pain if skin reaches this temperature
288 K15 °C59 °FMean on Earth
291.6 K18.4 °C65.1 °FHottest temperature in Antarctica, recorded on 2020 February 6 at the Esperanza Base[33]
294 K21 °C70 °FCommonly defined value for room temperature
296 K23 °C73 °FMean on Earth during the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum[34] about 55.8 million years ago
297 K24 °C75 °FMelting/freezing point of palm kernel oil[22]
298 K25 °C77 °FMelting/freezing point of coconut oil[22]
300 K27 °C81 °FThermoneutral temperature of an unclothed human at rest[35][36]
Estimated melting/freezing point of francium
302.9 K29.8 °C85.6 °FMelting/freezing point of gallium
303.15 K30 °C86 °FThe rate of plant growth is typically no greater above this temperature than at this temperature. (see Growing degree-day)
304 K31 °C88 °FMelting/freezing point of butter, critical point for carbon dioxide
307 K34 °C93 °FAutoignition temperature of white phosphorus
307.6 K34.4 °C93.9 °FHottest annual mean temperature on Earth, at Dallol, Ethiopia[20]
308 K35 °C95 °FHypothermic body temperature for humans (see Hypothermia)
Warmest sea measured, at the Red Sea
Melting/freezing point of palm oil[22]
309.5 K36.4 °C97.5 °FAverage body temperature for a human[37]
311.03 K37.87 °C100.2 °FBeginnings of a fever for humans
311.8 K38.6 °C101.5 °FAverage body temperature for a cat[38]
313.15 K40 °C104 °FMaximum standard temperature recommended for hot tub users[39]
315 K42 °C108 °FUsually fatal human fever
317.6 K44.44 °C112 °FHot threshold of pain if skin reaches this temperature
319.3 K46.1 °C115 °FWorld's hottest air temperature recorded while raining, at Needles, California, USA on August 13, 2012[40]
319.7 K46.5 °C115.7 °FHighest human fever survived (Willie Jones)[41]
322.1 K48.9 °C120.0 °FHottest air temperature recorded in South America, at Rivadavia, Argentina on 1905-12-11[24]
Maximum safe temperature for hot water according to numeric U.S. plumbing codes[42]
Water will cause a second-degree burn after 8 minutes and a third-degree burn after 10 minutes[42]
323.14 K49.99 °C121.99 °FHalf-way point between freezing and boiling
323.9 K50.7 °C123.3 °FHottest air temperature recorded in the Southern Hemisphere, at Oodnadatta, Australia on 1960-02-01[24]
329.87 K56.7 °C134.1 °FHottest measured air temperature on Earth, in Death Valley at Furnace Creek, Inyo County, California, United States of America on 10 July 1913.[43]
333.15 K60 °C140 °FWater will cause a second-degree burn in 3 seconds and a third-degree burn in 5 seconds[42]
Average temperature of a hair dryer
336 K63 °C145.4 °FMilk pasteurization
342 K69 °C157 °FBoiling point of water on the summit of Mount Everest[44]
343.15 K70 °C158 °FFood is well done
Hot springs at which some bacteria thrive[45]
350 K77 °C170 °FPoaching of food
351.52 K78.37 °C173.07 °FBoiling point of ethanol
353.15 K80 °C176 °FAverage temperature of a sauna
355 K82 °C180 °FRecommended final rinse temperature in industrial-grade commercial dishwashers[46]
355.6 K82.4 °C180.3 °FBoiling point of isopropyl alcohol[17]
366 K93 °C200 °FSimmering of food
367 K94 °C201 °FHottest ground temperature recorded on Earth at Furnace Creek, Death Valley, California, USA on 1972-07-15[47]
371 K98 °C209 °FFreezing/melting point of sodium
373.13 K99.98 °C211.97 °FBoiling point of water at 1 atm pressure (see Celsius)
380 K107 °C225 °FSmoke point of raw safflower oil
Syrup is concentrated to 75% sugar
388 K115 °C239 °FMelting/freezing point of sulfur
400 K127 °C260 °FConcorde nose tip during supersonic flight
Coldest known stars in space (approximate temperature)[48]
433.15 K160 °C320 °FSyrup is concentrated to 100% sugar
Sucrose (table sugar) caramelizes
450 K177 °C350 °FMean on Mercury
Smoke point of butter
Deep frying
453.15 K180 °C356 °FPopcorn pops
483 K210 °C410 °FAutoignition (kindling) point of diesel fuel
491 K218 °C425 °FKindling point of paper
519 K246 °C475 °FKindling point of automotive gasoline
522 K249 °C480 °FKindling point of jet fuel (Jet A/Jet A-1)[49]
525 K252 °C485 °FSmoke point of milkfat
Kindling point of jet fuel (Jet B)[49]
538 K265 °C510 °FSmoke point of refined safflower oil
574.5875 K301.4375 °C574.5875 °FIntersecting point of the Fahrenheit and Kelvin temperature scales
600.65 K327.5 °C621.5 °FMelting/freezing point of lead
647 K374 °C705 °FCritical point of superheated water
693 K419 °C787 °FMelting/freezing point of zinc
723.15 K450 °C842 °FKindling point of aviation gasoline[49]
738 K465 °C870 °FMean on Venus
749 K476 °C889 °FKindling point of magnesium
773.15 K500 °C932 °FOven on self-cleaning mode
798 K525 °C977 °FDraper Point (the point at which nearly all objects start to glow dim red)[50]
858 K585 °C1085 °FKindling point of hydrogen[51]
933.47 K660.32 °C1220.58 °FMelting/freezing point of aluminium
1000 K726.85 °C1340.33 °F

Detailed list from 0 K to 142 QK-273.15 Celsius Absolute Zero, nothing can get colder than this-272.15 Celsius Boomerang Nebula -270 Celsius Outer Space -269 boiling point of helium-259 freezing point of hydrogen-253 condensation point of hydrogen-241 average temperature on Haumea-235 average temperature on Triton

SI multiples

SI multiples of kelvin (K)
SubmultiplesMultiples
ValueSI symbolNameValueSI symbolName
10−1 KdKdecikelvin101 KdaKdecakelvin
10−2 KcKcentikelvin102 KhKhectokelvin
10−3 KmKmillikelvin103 KkKkilokelvin
10−6 KμKmicrokelvin106 KMKmegakelvin
10−9 KnKnanokelvin109 KGKgigakelvin
10−12 KpKpicokelvin1012 KTKterakelvin
10−15 KfKfemtokelvin1015 KPKpetakelvin
10−18 KaKattokelvin1018 KEKexakelvin
10−21 KzKzeptokelvin1021 KZKzettakelvin
10−24 KyKyoctokelvin1024 KYKyottakelvin
10−27 KrKrontokelvin1027 KRKronnakelvin
10−30 KqKquectokelvin1030 KQKquettakelvin

References