ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Fahrenheit

Fahrenheit is a way to measure how hot or cold something is. It was made up a long time ago by a man named Gabriel Fahrenheit. He wanted to make a simple scale to measure temperature. On this scale, the freezing point of water is 32 degrees and the boiling point of water is 212 degrees.

To help you understand, think of a thermometer. It's a skinny tube with a little bulb on the end that we can use to see how hot or cold something is. When we put the thermometer in our mouth to check if we have a fever, the thermometer has a little red line that moves up and down to show the temperature. On the Fahrenheit scale, if the thermometer reads 98.6 degrees, that means we don't have a fever and our body temperature is normal. But, if the thermometer reads 101 degrees or higher, then we have a fever and our body is hotter than it's supposed to be.

Overall, Fahrenheit is just a way to measure temperature and it can be useful in many different situations.
Related topics others have asked about: