5 ms·

Probably because you didn't grow up with Celcius. Celcius makes sense because it's based on water, 0 is freezing and 100 is boiling. What's Fahrenheit based on?

by midasz 4y ago

Probably because you didn't grow up with Celcius. Celcius makes sense because it's based on water, 0 is freezing and 100 is boiling. What's Fahrenheit based on? Anything we use in our daily lives?

afiori 4y ago
As usual there is a relevant XKCD even if I can't find it now. In Fahrenheit 0 and 100 are defined in random ways, but it ends up covering most of the range of temperature human experience in the environment. Celsius's definition does not include putting a thermometer inside an adult horse, but the common range of everyday temperatures is -18 to 50. There are points of view in which imperial units can claim to be easier to use. In the end the SI are technically better for sure; US imperial units are defined in terms of SI units, according to Wikipedia the pound is "legally defined as exactly 0.45359237 kilograms", nor it is a coincidence that -40F° = -40C°
- IntrepidWorm 4y ago
  Could it be: https://xkcd.com/1643 https://xkcd.com/1643 ? I adore Randall.
  - afiori 4y ago
    It is, thanks. Actually I had found it apparently but convinced myself that it was not the correct one, I deeply misremembered the setting.
troad 4y ago
Yes, it’s incredibly useful for outdoor temperature. 0 F means it’s very cold, 100 F means it’s very hot. Meanwhile, 0 C means it’s sort of a little cold, and 100 C means your eyes will melt. I grew up with and actively use Celsius, but this instinctive disdain for other measurement systems leaves me… a little cold. It’s not even like Fahrenheit has weird non-decimal ratios. Save your mocking for the avoirdupois furlongs!
- nly 4y ago
  I'm British. Let me give you some intuition. 30C+ is too hot to go outside. 20-30C is a hot summer. 12-20C is the rest of the year. 0-12C is jumper weather or freezing to death in your home, depending on whether you can afford your energy bill. <0C is fucking Baltic.
  - ChrisRR 4y ago
    Unless you're northern in which case 0-12C is t-shirt weather
  - troad 4y ago
    As I said, I grew up with and actively use Celsius, so I’m unsure why you’re explaining it in a reply to me. I’m also Australian, so your ranges are wildly off for my climate. Summers don’t get started until the 30 C days, and less than 20 C is the heart of winter. Celsius has many strengths, and is obviously better suited for scientific purposes. Fahrenheit is handy for outdoor temperatures. That doesn’t mean Celsius is useless for those. These turf wars are weird. A good engineer doesn’t spur different tools, for different tools have different strengths. I can immediately make sense of both systems, and I consider that to my advantage.
    - arlort 4y ago
      > and is obviously better suited for scientific purposes Celsius and Fahrenheit are equally arbitrary / bad for scientific purposes, Kelvin is the only scale that makes sense since it's zeroed at absolute zero. Celsius is only marginally better than Fahrenheit in that you mostly deal with temperature increments rather than absolute values and celsius increments are the same as kelvin increments
      - piva00 4y ago
        Celsius and Kelvin are the same scale with just different starting points for 0. So I wouldn't say it's on the same league as Fahrenheit for scientific purposes, you just need to sum/subtract -273.15 to convert. F to C or K is a much more cumbersome conversion comparatively.

by midasz 4y ago

Probably because you didn't grow up with Celcius. Celcius makes sense because it's based on water, 0 is freezing and 100 is boiling. What's Fahrenheit based on? Anything we use in our daily lives?

afiori 4y ago

As usual there is a relevant XKCD even if I can't find it now. In Fahrenheit 0 and 100 are defined in random ways, but it ends up covering most of the range of temperature human experience in the environment. Celsius's definition does not include putting a thermometer inside an adult horse, but the common range of everyday temperatures is -18 to 50. There are points of view in which imperial units can claim to be easier to use. In the end the SI are technically better for sure; US imperial units are defined in terms of SI units, according to Wikipedia the pound is "legally defined as exactly 0.45359237 kilograms", nor it is a coincidence that -40F° = -40C°

IntrepidWorm 4y ago
Could it be: https://xkcd.com/1643 https://xkcd.com/1643 ? I adore Randall.
- afiori 4y ago
  It is, thanks. Actually I had found it apparently but convinced myself that it was not the correct one, I deeply misremembered the setting.

troad 4y ago

Yes, it’s incredibly useful for outdoor temperature. 0 F means it’s very cold, 100 F means it’s very hot. Meanwhile, 0 C means it’s sort of a little cold, and 100 C means your eyes will melt. I grew up with and actively use Celsius, but this instinctive disdain for other measurement systems leaves me… a little cold. It’s not even like Fahrenheit has weird non-decimal ratios. Save your mocking for the avoirdupois furlongs!

nly 4y ago
I'm British. Let me give you some intuition. 30C+ is too hot to go outside. 20-30C is a hot summer. 12-20C is the rest of the year. 0-12C is jumper weather or freezing to death in your home, depending on whether you can afford your energy bill. <0C is fucking Baltic.
- ChrisRR 4y ago
  Unless you're northern in which case 0-12C is t-shirt weather
- troad 4y ago
  As I said, I grew up with and actively use Celsius, so I’m unsure why you’re explaining it in a reply to me. I’m also Australian, so your ranges are wildly off for my climate. Summers don’t get started until the 30 C days, and less than 20 C is the heart of winter. Celsius has many strengths, and is obviously better suited for scientific purposes. Fahrenheit is handy for outdoor temperatures. That doesn’t mean Celsius is useless for those. These turf wars are weird. A good engineer doesn’t spur different tools, for different tools have different strengths. I can immediately make sense of both systems, and I consider that to my advantage.
  - arlort 4y ago
    > and is obviously better suited for scientific purposes Celsius and Fahrenheit are equally arbitrary / bad for scientific purposes, Kelvin is the only scale that makes sense since it's zeroed at absolute zero. Celsius is only marginally better than Fahrenheit in that you mostly deal with temperature increments rather than absolute values and celsius increments are the same as kelvin increments
    - piva00 4y ago
      Celsius and Kelvin are the same scale with just different starting points for 0. So I wouldn't say it's on the same league as Fahrenheit for scientific purposes, you just need to sum/subtract -273.15 to convert. F to C or K is a much more cumbersome conversion comparatively.