You are viewing a single thread.
View all comments
102 points

Fun fact time, -40F is -40C.

And 575F is 575K

permalink
report
reply
73 points

Fahrenheit is a strange scale.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-38 points

Fahrenheit makes sense for humans. Most of your day to day climates are in the 0 to 100 scale, and every 10 degrees is a noticeable level change.

  • 100 super hot day, approaching unsafe without counter measures
  • 90 really hot day, slightly annoying and should take precautions
  • 80, hot day, more annoying than anything
  • 70, beautiful day, enjoy it
  • 60 not to bad, if it’s windy you could be slightly on the cold side
  • 50 long sleeves or maybe a hoodie
  • 40 definitely a jacket, and hat
  • 30 full on coat, scarfe, and hat
  • 20 multiple layers of out for a while, maybe double pants
  • 10 annoyingly cold, need to start thinking about the safety precautions
  • 0 and below, temperature now measured in hold long you can be outside before danger

Celsius makes sense for science stuff because it’s derived from science stuff, so things like calories and energy work with it. But it doesn’t really apply to everyday life as well. So it actually makes sense to use both units for the things the are good at.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-1 points

why are you being so heavily downvoted? you’re not even saying anything controversial.

permalink
report
parent
reply
17 points

Just an fyi, 100F is not “unsafe without counter measures” level of hot. That would be around 115+F. I say this as someone from a city that regularly hits 120F during the summer. 100 you can still get in your car, 115+ you need to wear gloves or else you’ll get 3rd degree burns. 100 have to buy pizza for lunch, 115+ just bake a pizza in your car.

permalink
report
parent
reply
43 points

Being from outside of the US I’m used to Celsius for everything, so I can make the same list, the numbers are just not whole 10s and I would probably round to nearest 5.

permalink
report
parent
reply
66 points

It depends on what you were raised with. For me I have all these relevant points in my head for C. 25 is nice, under 20 you slowly need to dress longer stuff. Over 30 is hot, over 40 sucks hard, over 50 can become deadly soon. Body temp is around 37.

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points
*

But it doesn’t really apply to everyday life as well. So it actually makes sense to use both units for the things the are good at.

It’s funny to assume that all people using Celsius are unable to ascertain how they will feel outside based on the temperature value.

I mean, I understand that round numbers are cute, but we are able to handle numbers ending in 5 as well as numbers ending in 0.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

Somebody’s from the north. Even as warm blooded as I am 80 is a nice day and 90 is just annoyingly hot.

permalink
report
parent
reply
20 points

It’s just designed with a slightly different set of assumptions.

Instead of water freezing and boiling 100° apart, it’s 180° in fahrenheit. That makes it so that they’re on the opposite sides of a temperature gauge, and a degree of rotation of the gauge matches a degree of temperature.
Instead of zero being the freezing point of water under specific conditions, it’s a brine solution whose temperature will stabilize in a way that’s useful for using as a calibration point.

Stripped of its context, it’s odd. But it’s not irrational, just no longer consensus as the standard, and as such deprecated.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

And at what temperatures are C and K equal?

permalink
report
parent
reply
22 points

Never. They use the same spacing between degrees. The Kelvin scale was derived from the Celsius scale, just placing the 0° at absolute zero rather than at the freezing point of water.

permalink
report
parent
reply

Science Memes

!science_memes@mander.xyz

Create post

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don’t throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.


Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

Community stats

  • 13K

    Monthly active users

  • 2.9K

    Posts

  • 71K

    Comments