5 ms·

For most things, I think metric makes more sense, but I fully agree about temperatures. Fahrenheit is a superior scale for humans.

jakelazaroff 8y ago
Co-signed! The freezing and boiling points of water are also not particularly pragmatic points of reference. I don't think "I need to lower this to 0°", I think "I need to put this in the freezer".
- Terr_ 8y ago
  > The freezing and boiling points of water are also not particularly pragmatic points of reference. I must strongly disagree. The freezing point of water is an incredibly important and pragmatic point of reference for hundreds of millions of people around the world, who live in places where water can freeze (or thaw) on its own outdoors. Not just for transportation, but also its affect on biology in agriculture. While the boiling point is (thankfully) not important for weather-reports... Cooking! What would you do if I said to "simmer" something? You aren't supposed to go high enough to reach the obvious boiling point, so how are you supposed to know when you're close enough if you can't remember the magic number?
  - anamexis 8y ago
    I'll concede that freezing is very important to a lot of people, but at the same time, I don't think it's particularly onerous to remember that the freezing point is 32 degrees. As far as boiling and cooking, I would argue that there is no magic number anyways, since boiling point is variable by elevation. At 7500 feet / ~2250 meters, water boils at 198°F.
    - evil-olive 8y ago
      > As far as boiling and cooking, I would argue that there is no magic number anyways, since boiling point is variable by elevation. At 7500 feet / ~2250 meters, water boils at 198°F. That's an excellent point, let's examine the relationship between altitude and boiling point, in both American units and everywhere-else-in-the-world units [0]: 5000 feet -> 202.97 F 7500 feet -> 198.33 10000 feet -> 193.6 F Compared to: 1000 meters -> 96.73 C 2000 meters -> 93.38 C 3000 meters -> 89.95 C In both cases, the boiling points at altitude are magic numbers. The difference is that with Celsius, you can interpret degrees as "percentage of the way from freezing to boiling". Going from 100 C at 0 meters to 90 C at 3000 meters is immediately meaningful as a 10% decrease. With degrees Fahrenheit, that same 10% drop in boiling temperature that happens at around 3000 meters / 10,000 feet is 212 F to 194 F. 0: https://www.omnicalculator.com/chemistry/boiling-point-altitude https://www.omnicalculator.com/chemistry/boiling-point-altit...
      - gspetr 8y ago
        Excellent point. 100 -> 90 is 10% decrease. 212 -> 194 is ~8.5% decrease (and I had to go out of my way to count that).
      - atoav 8y ago
        Also: Celsius converts easier to Kelvin which is sometimes useful
      - sjy 8y ago
        If going from 100 °C to 90 °C was a 10% decrease, then going from 0 °C to 1 °C would be an ∞% increase. Metric units are superior to imperial for many reasons, but this isn’t one of them.
- hexane360 8y ago
  Good thing Fahrenheit's got pragmatic points of reference, like. . . the freezing point of brine water and almost the body temperature of human [1]. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit#History
Terr_ 8y ago
While having a "wider spread" of "today's forecast" numbers is nice, that 32-degree offset is a huge negative ding against it. I mean, there's a big important point where you start getting solid things falling on your head and slick icy roads and ruined fruit-plants, so it ought to be at more meaningful spot, like 0.
kmm 8y ago
I can just barely feel the difference of temperature of one degree Celsius. I really don't feel multiplying that by 1.8 will make a big difference in how good a scale it is for humans.
- bkanber 8y ago
  As an example, the common temperatures in NYC range from 0-100F. In celcius that's like -18 to +38. I'm a scientist and an engineer, and in those applications C is often better. But in daily life, Fahrenheit makes a ton of sense.
  - int_19h 8y ago
    If you live in NYC, maybe. A lot of people don't, and you can find places where ranges in C are "neater" than in F.
    - umanwizard 8y ago
      > If you live in NYC, maybe. A lot of people don't Those people are free to use whatever units they like. It doesn't have much bearing on the point that Fahrenheit, which is used in the United States, is a good match for the climate of most of the United States.
      - int_19h 8y ago
        Most of the United States doesn't have climate that falls within 0..100 F. There are plenty of places that are more like 30..90 F etc. And I don't see how that's any different from, say, 0..30 C. OTOH, as far as weather goes, C has the nice property that anything below zero is freezing temperature. In any locale where snow and ice is a thing, that's handy to know.
  - redial 8y ago
    In Ecuador the temperature ranges from ~60 to ~90F, but I'm sure for them is a great relief to know people of New York have a temperature unit that perfectly matches their climate as neatly as going from 0 to 100.
jnurmine 8y ago
When it is 0 C, you can expect ice/snow outside. Yesterday it was +20 C, today it is +25 C, so it is noticeably warmer. -10 C tomorrow, so you'll need your woolen cap and padded jacket. -20 C and add a layer of underwear underneath and maybe a scarf. When you boil water for tea (100 C) and don't want the water boiling but still hot, aim for 95 C. When the inner temperature of salmon is +46 C, it is perfect, if it is +56 C or more, it is thoroughly cooked and will not taste soft anymore. Usually the relevant difference is 5 or 10 degrees. I don't even want to think what those examples could be as Fahrenheit. My point is it is eventually a matter of what you are used to, but Celsius is more logical, because it is directly tied to water freezing and boiling. For the most logical measurements we'd use Kelvin, but it is not practical! "Oh, it is 273.15 K outside, might be black ice on the roads"

jakelazaroff 8y ago

Co-signed! The freezing and boiling points of water are also not particularly pragmatic points of reference. I don't think "I need to lower this to 0°", I think "I need to put this in the freezer".

Terr_ 8y ago
> The freezing and boiling points of water are also not particularly pragmatic points of reference. I must strongly disagree. The freezing point of water is an incredibly important and pragmatic point of reference for hundreds of millions of people around the world, who live in places where water can freeze (or thaw) on its own outdoors. Not just for transportation, but also its affect on biology in agriculture. While the boiling point is (thankfully) not important for weather-reports... Cooking! What would you do if I said to "simmer" something? You aren't supposed to go high enough to reach the obvious boiling point, so how are you supposed to know when you're close enough if you can't remember the magic number?
- anamexis 8y ago
  I'll concede that freezing is very important to a lot of people, but at the same time, I don't think it's particularly onerous to remember that the freezing point is 32 degrees. As far as boiling and cooking, I would argue that there is no magic number anyways, since boiling point is variable by elevation. At 7500 feet / ~2250 meters, water boils at 198°F.
  - evil-olive 8y ago
    > As far as boiling and cooking, I would argue that there is no magic number anyways, since boiling point is variable by elevation. At 7500 feet / ~2250 meters, water boils at 198°F. That's an excellent point, let's examine the relationship between altitude and boiling point, in both American units and everywhere-else-in-the-world units [0]: 5000 feet -> 202.97 F 7500 feet -> 198.33 10000 feet -> 193.6 F Compared to: 1000 meters -> 96.73 C 2000 meters -> 93.38 C 3000 meters -> 89.95 C In both cases, the boiling points at altitude are magic numbers. The difference is that with Celsius, you can interpret degrees as "percentage of the way from freezing to boiling". Going from 100 C at 0 meters to 90 C at 3000 meters is immediately meaningful as a 10% decrease. With degrees Fahrenheit, that same 10% drop in boiling temperature that happens at around 3000 meters / 10,000 feet is 212 F to 194 F. 0: https://www.omnicalculator.com/chemistry/boiling-point-altitude https://www.omnicalculator.com/chemistry/boiling-point-altit...
    - gspetr 8y ago
      Excellent point. 100 -> 90 is 10% decrease. 212 -> 194 is ~8.5% decrease (and I had to go out of my way to count that).
    - atoav 8y ago
      Also: Celsius converts easier to Kelvin which is sometimes useful
    - sjy 8y ago
      If going from 100 °C to 90 °C was a 10% decrease, then going from 0 °C to 1 °C would be an ∞% increase. Metric units are superior to imperial for many reasons, but this isn’t one of them.
hexane360 8y ago
Good thing Fahrenheit's got pragmatic points of reference, like. . . the freezing point of brine water and almost the body temperature of human [1]. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit#History

Terr_ 8y ago

While having a "wider spread" of "today's forecast" numbers is nice, that 32-degree offset is a huge negative ding against it. I mean, there's a big important point where you start getting solid things falling on your head and slick icy roads and ruined fruit-plants, so it ought to be at more meaningful spot, like 0.

kmm 8y ago

I can just barely feel the difference of temperature of one degree Celsius. I really don't feel multiplying that by 1.8 will make a big difference in how good a scale it is for humans.

bkanber 8y ago
As an example, the common temperatures in NYC range from 0-100F. In celcius that's like -18 to +38. I'm a scientist and an engineer, and in those applications C is often better. But in daily life, Fahrenheit makes a ton of sense.
- int_19h 8y ago
  If you live in NYC, maybe. A lot of people don't, and you can find places where ranges in C are "neater" than in F.
  - umanwizard 8y ago
    > If you live in NYC, maybe. A lot of people don't Those people are free to use whatever units they like. It doesn't have much bearing on the point that Fahrenheit, which is used in the United States, is a good match for the climate of most of the United States.
    - int_19h 8y ago
      Most of the United States doesn't have climate that falls within 0..100 F. There are plenty of places that are more like 30..90 F etc. And I don't see how that's any different from, say, 0..30 C. OTOH, as far as weather goes, C has the nice property that anything below zero is freezing temperature. In any locale where snow and ice is a thing, that's handy to know.
- redial 8y ago
  In Ecuador the temperature ranges from ~60 to ~90F, but I'm sure for them is a great relief to know people of New York have a temperature unit that perfectly matches their climate as neatly as going from 0 to 100.

jnurmine 8y ago

When it is 0 C, you can expect ice/snow outside. Yesterday it was +20 C, today it is +25 C, so it is noticeably warmer. -10 C tomorrow, so you'll need your woolen cap and padded jacket. -20 C and add a layer of underwear underneath and maybe a scarf. When you boil water for tea (100 C) and don't want the water boiling but still hot, aim for 95 C. When the inner temperature of salmon is +46 C, it is perfect, if it is +56 C or more, it is thoroughly cooked and will not taste soft anymore. Usually the relevant difference is 5 or 10 degrees. I don't even want to think what those examples could be as Fahrenheit. My point is it is eventually a matter of what you are used to, but Celsius is more logical, because it is directly tied to water freezing and boiling. For the most logical measurements we'd use Kelvin, but it is not practical! "Oh, it is 273.15 K outside, might be black ice on the roads"