Gas mark

Last updated
A Parkinson Cowan Prince gas cooker dial with a gas mark scale Parkinson Cowan Prince gas cooker Harlow Museum & Walled Gardens, Essex crop.jpg
A Parkinson Cowan Prince gas cooker dial with a gas mark scale

The gas mark is a temperature scale used on gas ovens and cookers in the United Kingdom, Ireland and some Commonwealth of Nations countries.

Contents

History

The draft 2003 edition of the Oxford English Dictionary lists the earliest known usage of the concept as being in L. Chatterton's book Modern Cookery published in 1943: "Afternoon tea scones… Time: 20 minutes. Temperature: Gas, Regulo Mark 7". "Regulo" was a type of gas regulator used by a manufacturer of cookers; however, the scale has now become universal, and the word Regulo is rarely used.

The term "gas mark" was a subject of the joint BBC/OED production Balderdash and Piffle , in May 2005. The earliest printed evidence of use of "gas mark" (with no other terms between the two words) appears to date from 1958. [1] However, the manufacturers of the "New World" gas ranges in the mid-1930s gave away recipe books for use with their cooker, and the "Regulo" was the gas regulator. [2] The book has no reference to degrees. All dishes to be cooked are noted to be at "Regulo Mark X".

Equivalents in Fahrenheit and Celsius

Gas mark 1 is 275  degrees Fahrenheit (135  degrees Celsius). Oven temperatures increase by 25 °F (13.9 °C) each time the gas mark increases by 1. Below Gas Mark 1 the scale markings halve at each step, each representing a decrease of 25 °F.

For temperatures above 135 °C (gas mark 1) to convert gas mark to degrees Celsius () multiply the gas mark number () by 14, then add 121:

For the reverse conversion:

These do not work for less than 1. For temperatures below 135 °C (gas mark 1), to convert gas mark to degrees Celsius apply the following conversion:

For the reverse:

It is usual to round the results of such calculations to a round number of degrees Celsius.

Conversion table [3] [4]
Gas mark degrees Fahrenheit degrees Celsius Descriptive
14225107Very slow/very low
12250121Very slow/very low
1275135Slow/low
2300149Slow/low
3325163Moderately slow/warm
4350177Moderate/medium
5375191Moderate/moderately hot
6400205Moderately hot
7425219Hot
8450233Hot/very hot
9475247Very hot
10
(omitted in most tables)
500261Extremely hot

Note that tables of temperature equivalents for kitchen use usually offer Celsius values rounded to the nearest 10 degrees, with steps of either 10 or 20 degrees between Gas Marks. [3] [4]

Other cooking temperature scales

French ovens and recipes use a scale based on the Celsius scale:"Thermostat" (abbreviated "Th"), where Thermostat 1 equals 30 °C for conventional ovens, increasing by 30 °C for each whole number along the scale. [5]

In Germany, "Stufe" (the German word for "step") is used for gas cooking temperatures. Gas ovens are commonly marked in steps from 1 to 8, corresponding to:

Stufe12345678
Approx. Temp.150 °C175 °C200 °C225 °C250 °C275 °C300 °C325 °C

Other ovens may be marked on a scale of 1–7, where Stufe 12 is about 125 °C in a conventional oven, Stufe 1 is about 150 °C, increasing by 25 °C for each subsequent step, up to Stufe 7 at 300 °C. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

Conversion of units is the conversion of the unit of measurement in which a quantity is expressed, typically through a multiplicative conversion factor that changes the unit without changing the quantity. This is also often loosely taken to include replacement of a quantity with a corresponding quantity that describes the same physical property.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fahrenheit</span> Temperature scale

The Fahrenheit scale is a temperature scale based on one proposed in 1724 by the European physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736). It uses the degree Fahrenheit as the unit. Several accounts of how he originally defined his scale exist, but the original paper suggests the lower defining point, 0 °F, was established as the freezing temperature of a solution of brine made from a mixture of water, ice, and ammonium chloride. The other limit established was his best estimate of the average human body temperature, originally set at 90 °F, then 96 °F.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thermocouple</span> Electrical device for measuring temperature

A thermocouple, also known as a "thermoelectrical thermometer", is an electrical device consisting of two dissimilar electrical conductors forming an electrical junction. A thermocouple produces a temperature-dependent voltage as a result of the Seebeck effect, and this voltage can be interpreted to measure temperature. Thermocouples are widely used as temperature sensors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thermometer</span> Device to measure temperature

A thermometer is a device that measures temperature or temperature gradient. A thermometer has two important elements: (1) a temperature sensor in which some change occurs with a change in temperature; and (2) some means of converting this change into a numerical value. Thermometers are widely used in technology and industry to monitor processes, in meteorology, in medicine, and in scientific research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thermodynamic temperature</span> Measure of absolute temperature

Thermodynamic temperature is a quantity defined in thermodynamics as distinct from kinetic theory or statistical mechanics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pressure cooking</span> Cooking food under high-pressure steam

Pressure cooking is the process of cooking food under high pressure steam and water or a water-based cooking liquid, in a sealed vessel known as a pressure cooker. High pressure limits boiling and creates higher cooking temperatures which cook food far more quickly than at normal pressure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mercury-in-glass thermometer</span> Type of thermometer

The mercury-in-glass or mercury thermometer is a thermometer that uses the thermal expansion and contraction of liquid mercury to indicate the temperature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heat index</span> Temperature index that accounts for the effects of humidity

The heat index (HI) is an index that combines air temperature and relative humidity, in shaded areas, to posit a human-perceived equivalent temperature, as how hot it would feel if the humidity were some other value in the shade. For example, when the temperature is 32 °C (90 °F) with 70% relative humidity, the heat index is 41 °C (106 °F). The heat index is meant to describe experienced temperatures in the shade, but it does not take into account heating from direct sunlight, physical activity or cooling from wind.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fermi gas</span> Physical model of gases composed of many non-interacting identical fermions

A Fermi gas is an idealized model, an ensemble of many non-interacting fermions. Fermions are particles that obey Fermi–Dirac statistics, like electrons, protons, and neutrons, and, in general, particles with half-integer spin. These statistics determine the energy distribution of fermions in a Fermi gas in thermal equilibrium, and is characterized by their number density, temperature, and the set of available energy states. The model is named after the Italian physicist Enrico Fermi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oven</span> Enclosed chamber for heating objects

An oven is a tool which is used to expose materials to a hot environment. Ovens contain a hollow chamber and provide a means of heating the chamber in a controlled way. In use since antiquity, they have been used to accomplish a wide variety of tasks requiring controlled heating. Because they are used for a variety of purposes, there are many different types of ovens. These types differ depending on their intended purpose and based upon how they generate heat.

This is a collection of temperature conversion formulas and comparisons among eight different temperature scales, several of which have long been obsolete.

In probability theory and statistics, the coefficient of variation (CV), also known as Normalized Root-Mean-Square Deviation (NRMSD), Percent RMS, and relative standard deviation (RSD), is a standardized measure of dispersion of a probability distribution or frequency distribution. It is defined as the ratio of the standard deviation to the mean , and often expressed as a percentage ("%RSD"). The CV or RSD is widely used in analytical chemistry to express the precision and repeatability of an assay. It is also commonly used in fields such as engineering or physics when doing quality assurance studies and ANOVA gauge R&R, by economists and investors in economic models, and in psychology/neuroscience.

The term degree is used in several scales of temperature, with the notable exception of kelvin, primary unit of temperature for engineering and the physical sciences. The degree symbol ° is usually used, followed by the initial letter of the unit; for example, "°C" for degree(Souvik) Celsius. A degree can be defined as a set change in temperature measured against a given scale; for example, one degree Celsius is one-hundredth of the temperature change between the point at which water starts to change state from solid to liquid state and the point at which it starts to change from its liquid to gaseous state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solar cooker</span> Device for cooking with the heat of sunlight

A solar cooker is a device which uses the energy of direct sunlight to heat, cook or pasteurize drink and other food materials. Many solar cookers currently in use are relatively inexpensive, low-tech devices, although some are as powerful or as expensive as traditional stoves, and advanced, large scale solar cookers can cook for hundreds of people. Because they use no fuel and cost nothing to operate, many nonprofit organizations are promoting their use worldwide in order to help reduce fuel costs and air pollution, and to help slow down deforestation and desertification.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thermostatic radiator valve</span> Self-regulating valve to control hot water flow

A thermostatic radiator valve (TRV) is a self-regulating valve fitted to hot water heating system radiator, to control the temperature of a room by changing the flow of hot water to the radiator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeans instability</span> Mechanism by which the collapse of interstellar gas clouds causes star formation

The Jeans instability is a concept in astrophysics that describes an instability that leads to the gravitational collapse of a cloud of gas or dust. It causes the collapse of interstellar gas clouds and subsequent star formation. It occurs when the internal gas pressure is not strong enough to prevent the gravitational collapse of a region filled with matter. It is named after James Jeans.

Energy is defined via work, so the SI unit of energy is the same as the unit of work – the joule (J), named in honour of James Prescott Joule and his experiments on the mechanical equivalent of heat. In slightly more fundamental terms, 1 joule is equal to 1 newton metre and, in terms of SI base units

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Celsius</span> Scale and unit of measurement for temperature

The degree Celsius is the unit of temperature on the Celsius scale, one of two temperature scales used in the International System of Units (SI), the other being the closely related Kelvin scale. The degree Celsius can refer to a specific temperature on the Celsius scale or to a difference or range between two temperatures. It is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius (1701–1744), who proposed the first version of it in 1742. The unit was called centigrade in several languages for many years. In 1948, the International Committee for Weights and Measures renamed it to honor Celsius and also to remove confusion with the term for one hundredth of a gradian in some languages. Most countries use this scale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temperature</span> Physical quantity of hot and cold

Temperature is a physical quantity that quantitatively expresses the attribute of hotness or coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. It reflects the average kinetic energy of the vibrating and colliding atoms making up a substance.

Scale of temperature is a methodology of calibrating the physical quantity temperature in metrology. Empirical scales measure temperature in relation to convenient and stable parameters or reference points, such as the freezing and boiling point of water. Absolute temperature is based on thermodynamic principles: using the lowest possible temperature as the zero point, and selecting a convenient incremental unit.

References

  1. "gas". OED Online. Archived from the original on 25 June 2007.
  2. "Gourmet Britain / Food Encyclopedia / Regulo TM settings". Gourmetbritain.com. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  3. 1 2 "Conversion Guides". BBC Good Food. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Cooking Conversion Charts". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  5. "Oven Temperatures". Practically Edible. 5 October 2007. Archived from the original on 30 June 2010. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
  6. "Temperatur-Angaben" [Temperature Information] (in German). GuteKueche. Retrieved 11 Feb 2012.