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The thing is, these benefits are very small to most Americans while the costs of metrification are pretty large. Most Americans need to drive to an airport and

The thing is, these benefits are very small to most Americans while the costs of metrification are pretty large. Most Americans need to drive to an airport and spent half a day or more flying in order to get to a region where metrification is standard. Imperial is used for thousands of miles in every direction, except for specialized use cases. In most day-to-day life, people are talking about temperature in terms of weather, not freezing and boiling. Weather in Fahrenheit ranges from about 0 to 120 most places in the US most of the time, making it easy to talk about temperature ranges in decades, whereas Celsius ranges from -10 to 45. There is an advantage here either way?

shmerl 11y ago
For me it's pretty intuitive, that -1°C and +1°C mean pretty different conditions outside. Anything with - is "cold"/"freezing", anything with + is "warm"/"hot". On the other hand +31°F and +33°F aren't as expressive for the same idea. Boiling is also a pretty important point (for cooking). So having it at 100 is handy. Water is common in everyday life. Brine? No idea why anyone would use that for common measurements. Plus, using two digits in the majority of cases is simpler. The bottom line, systems like Fahrenheit end up being used when scientists don't think much about practicality in everyday life. It's good no one is using Kelvin for that purpose.
- Dylan16807 11y ago
  > -1°C and +1°C mean pretty different conditions outside They really don't, though. Temperature varies over an area, varies by hour, melting and freezing can take days when you're close to the limit... It can snow when the surface is above freezing. It can rain when the surface is below freezing. I can show you two days in any winter, -1C and 1C, and they'll look exactly the same. And while 100 is convenient for boiling, 200 is roughly just as convenient.
  - shmerl 11y ago
    > They really don't, though. They roughly do. It's just a mental marker (i.e. 0°), which I find to be nicer than 32°.

shmerl 11y ago

For me it's pretty intuitive, that -1°C and +1°C mean pretty different conditions outside. Anything with - is "cold"/"freezing", anything with + is "warm"/"hot". On the other hand +31°F and +33°F aren't as expressive for the same idea. Boiling is also a pretty important point (for cooking). So having it at 100 is handy. Water is common in everyday life. Brine? No idea why anyone would use that for common measurements. Plus, using two digits in the majority of cases is simpler. The bottom line, systems like Fahrenheit end up being used when scientists don't think much about practicality in everyday life. It's good no one is using Kelvin for that purpose.

Dylan16807 11y ago
> -1°C and +1°C mean pretty different conditions outside They really don't, though. Temperature varies over an area, varies by hour, melting and freezing can take days when you're close to the limit... It can snow when the surface is above freezing. It can rain when the surface is below freezing. I can show you two days in any winter, -1C and 1C, and they'll look exactly the same. And while 100 is convenient for boiling, 200 is roughly just as convenient.
- shmerl 11y ago
  > They really don't, though. They roughly do. It's just a mental marker (i.e. 0°), which I find to be nicer than 32°.