The Celsius temperature scale, also known as the centigrade scale, is a metric scale for measuring temperature. It is based on the concept of defining the freezing point and boiling point of water at standard atmospheric pressure.
The Celsius scale was developed by Anders Celsius in the 18th century. When designing the scale, Celsius chose to use the freezing point of water as 0 degrees Celsius and the boiling point of water as 100 degrees Celsius. This range was divided into 100 equal parts or degrees.
The reason there are no negative degrees in the Celsius scale is due to the choice of the freezing point of water as the zero point. Celsius decided to define zero degrees as the temperature at which water freezes because it was a readily accessible and reproducible point of reference.
Water freezing at 0 degrees Celsius and boiling at 100 degrees Celsius provides a convenient and easily understandable scale for everyday use. It allows for positive values to represent temperatures above freezing and negative values to represent temperatures below freezing. This arrangement aligns well with common temperature ranges experienced in most parts of the world.
However, it is worth noting that there are other temperature scales, such as the Kelvin scale, which do not use degrees and have an absolute zero point where all molecular motion ceases. The Kelvin scale is often used in scientific and engineering contexts where precise measurements and calculations are required.