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from the There's-nothing-hotter-than-ITS-90 dept.
At face value, measuring the temperature using Celsius instead of Fahrenheit seems to make sense. After all, the freezing point of water in Celsius is a perfect 0 degrees C — not that inexplicable 32 degrees, as in Fahrenheit. Also, the boiling point of water in Celsius is right at 100 degrees (Okay, 99.98, but what's a couple hundredths of a degree among friends?), instead of the awkward 212 degrees Fahrenheit.
But Fahrenheit may be the best way to measure temperature after all. Why? Because most of us only care about air temperature, not water temperature.
Celsius is great for measuring the temperature of water. However, we're human beings who live on dry ground. As a result, it's best to use a temperature gauge that's suited to the air, as opposed to one that's best used for water. This is one reason why Fahrenheit is superior.
Fahrenheit is also more precise. The ambient temperature on most of the inhabited world ranges from -20 degrees Fahrenheit to 110 degrees Fahrenheit — a 130-degree range. On the Celsius scale, that range is from -28.8 degrees to 43.3 degrees — a 72.1-degree range. This means that you can get a more exact measurement of the air temperature using Fahrenheit because it uses almost twice the scale.
A precise reading of temperature is important to us because just a little variation can result in a perceivable level of discomfort. Most of us are people who are easily affected even by even slight changes in the thermometer, and the Fahrenheit scale is more sensitive to those changes.
It seems the author is saying that nobody uses fractions of degrees in day-to-day life, so Fahrenheit is a better scale because it has smaller increments. I'm not sold on this, because you'll get the same temperature variation within a room whether you set your air-conditioning system to 21°C or 70°F, and people will complain that they prefer the room to be a bit warmer/cooler/whatever.
Does anyone here have another reason for advocating the continued use of the Fahrenheit scale ?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 27 2017, @07:15PM (21 children)
Teach the controversy, right?
You try living without water for a couple of weeks and tell me how that's working out for you.
Whoever thinks Fahrenheit is better should be summarily ridiculed in public. And upon that person, I wish only the worst, like stubbing his toe every 30 seconds against a red-hot iron table leg.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday July 27 2017, @07:42PM (19 children)
I've never understood why non-U.S. people get so butthurt about Fahrenheit. It's not hurting you, dude. Just let it be.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 27 2017, @07:51PM (1 child)
Actually, confusion over units of measure has resulted in quite a few problems. There is no real reason to keep separate systems, it just causes problems.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Monday July 31 2017, @04:05PM
You could make the same argument about languages but nobody's trying to force everybody to use only one.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by kaszz on Thursday July 27 2017, @08:37PM (6 children)
Because it obfuscates matters and results in accidents like Mars Climate Orbiter crash in 1998 because.. *drumroll* ground software supplied by Lockheed Martin produced results in a United States customary unit. So NASA went full SI in 2007. US military and government adopted SI in 1975.
Suppose you want to find out the amount of energy needed to change the temperature. Well then it's: Energy = Mass * Specific heat capacity * Temperature difference
If the temperature is in Fahrenheit, if it's even specified at all like in the cases of "degrees". There will be a lot more of calculations.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday July 27 2017, @08:56PM (5 children)
So make rules about which you use in scientific and technical contexts. Use by the man on the street doesn't hurt anyone.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 27 2017, @09:11PM (3 children)
Actually it does, do you know how many annoyed world citizens have had to talk to US ignoramuses about how 20-30 degrees isn't freezing cold?
(Score: 2, Disagree) by tangomargarine on Thursday July 27 2017, @09:21PM
It should be obvious to "annoyed world citizens" that they're talking about Fahrenheit. If they're willfully misunderstanding in order to call the other person an ignoramus, I've got a mirror to show you who the problem is.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 27 2017, @09:24PM (1 child)
Probably not nearly as many as those world ignoramuses having to be told 70-80 degrees is not deathly hot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 28 2017, @10:04AM
That's a pretty good Sauna temperature, if it's in C. Pretty damn cold if it's in F.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Sunday July 30 2017, @03:31PM
More to keep track of. It's way more efficient to make use of one temperature definition. The only exception is Kelvin which is a special case needed for some calculations.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Lester on Thursday July 27 2017, @09:07PM (7 children)
Communication is easier if everybody uses the same language. Celsius is the international standard, and the science standard. So it is Fahrenheit who hinders communication.
Having said that, I'm not particulary concerned about Fahrenheit. Any debate about which is better is stupid, both scales are arbitrary. So that statement about Fahrenheit better than celsius looks more like USA people are butthurted about celsius.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 27 2017, @09:31PM (3 children)
Celsius is not the standard. Kelvin is.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday July 28 2017, @06:26AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by unauthorized on Friday July 28 2017, @08:58AM (1 child)
Celsius is just Kelvin with a predefined offset meant to make day-to-day numbers use less digits. Fahrenheit is just purely arbitrary.
(Score: 3, Touché) by tangomargarine on Friday July 28 2017, @03:25PM
And Fahrenheit is Rankine with a similar offset.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Friday July 28 2017, @03:48AM (2 children)
To be fair, the US Government has been trying [wikipedia.org] to move everyone across to Metric, but it seems that the average US citizen is more resistant to change than most other countries.
It's worth noting that the US is now one of only 3 countries in the world that has not adopted the SI (metric) system as their official set of measures. The other two are Myanmar (Burma) and Liberia.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 28 2017, @10:09AM
"the government of Myanmar has stated that the country would metricate with a goal of completion by 2019"
We'll see, although it's not that black and white with the rest of the world either, unfortunately.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 28 2017, @04:42PM
We're never going to go metric and we were one of the first countries to adopt the SI system. All of our measures are defined based upon the SI units.
We don't use them for things outside of medicine and science because the units are stupid and annoying to use when you don't have a measuring device. A meter is too long, we don't use yards much for the same reason, it's too long to be conveniently estimated, but too short to be of any practical use. Centimeters are too freaking short. An inch is something that's easily related to a person's finger and same goes for the foot. A persons foot and finger are not going to be exactly the same as those measures, but it's a relatively constant difference that makes estimation easier.
Likewise, temperatures get compared to body temperature by everybody anywhere that isn't using instruments to take the reading. Having the scale have on end on body temperature makes sense because of that.
Then there's time. Literally, the only measurement that desperately needs to be made metric has been made metric nowhere in the world.
If you're the sort of person that goes around with a meter stick and properly calibrated temperature probe, then the metric system is for you, otherwise using it is a kludge as it's not really designed with everyday living in mind. It's designed for conducting scientific research by people on Earth.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 27 2017, @11:30PM
Easy enough—because it's an imperial PITA.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday July 28 2017, @02:47AM
It's a national pride sort of thing more than anything else - the way we learned it in school, why change?
If the world wants one system, they should copy ours! (equally (in)valid when spoken from any perspective.)
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Rivenaleem on Friday July 28 2017, @03:50PM
Try living without air for a couple of weeks and tell me how that's working for you.
What a terrible argument.
The most important thing for a temperature scale argument for me is: How easily can I make/calibrate my own thermometer to within a reasonable level of accuracy?
Melting ice = 0
Steam at sea-level = 100
How does one make a fahrenheit thermometer?