Saturday, August 06, 2022

Fahrenheit vs. Celsius



This one's for William Rocket. Phil Jamesson illustrates the salient points. The Celsius crowd thinks that a scale that is based on the states of water is correct. Fahrenheit fans prefer to run zero to 100 between points that people encounter in the real world. The truth of the matter is that both sides understand each other's measurements pretty well, and most countries use both imperial and metric systems depending on what they are measuring. Still, everyone wants to think their system is correct. (via reddit)

5 comments:

gwdMaine said...

0 degrees in either is cold outside, but my friend Kelvin just rolls his eyes when I say that.

newton said...

What's interesting is that they use Celsius in India, except for doctors, who use Fahrenheit for measuring their patient's temperature.

I looked at some posts in India for an explanation for this, and the argument made is exactly the argument used in this video: Fahrenheit is a more suitable scale for measuring a person's health. When the temperature gets to 100 then you are becoming unhealthy. And 0 to 100 is pretty much the range that it is safe to be outside for long periods (considering you have the right clothing in the cold and enough water in the heat).

Anonymous said...

This reminds me of this comedy routine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtfPF3yHdFA

I do prefer using Fahrenheit--except in the winter, when I prefer to use Kelvin.

A simple way to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit (when the Celsius temperature is positive): double the number and add 30. So, for instance, 25 C is about 80 F. Obviously, reverse the formula to go from F to C: subtract 30 and halve the difference.

Anonymous said...

When you measure something and there is zero of it, the number you should use to describe this is zero. Hence, Kelvin is the most logical temperature scale.

WilliamRocket said...

Wait until you find out about the hot and cold taps in France !