this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2024

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Burning Up (mander.xyz)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

IT'S OVER THREE HUNDRED KELVIIIIIIIIIIN!

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (15 children)

But really it is much better for human temperatures.

It's just intuitive, 0F is 100% cold, and 100F is 100% hot.

When the dry bulb gets above 100F, wind only cools you down by sweat evaporation, and when the wet bulb gets above 100F, even that can't cool you down, and you will die if you don't get to a cooler or drier environment.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago

Being 41% of the way to boiling water sounds pretty hot to me, too.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 8 months ago (1 children)

"Intuitive" is a meaningless metric for a single scaled number. Whichever system you are used to will be the more "intuitive".

Also, climate can play into which system feels more useful. Where I live, 100F occurs only rarely (and since air conditioning is almost ubiquitous, not something I'd bother looking out for), while 0C is an outdoor temperature that I do need to be aware of for half the year.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 8 months ago (3 children)

I disagree that either would be just as intuitive. Fahrenheit being 0=cold and 100=hot is intuitive because there are a lot of things we do in the world that exist on a scale of 0 - 100. Percentages, just off the bat. Also, fahrenheit has a higher degree of fidelity in the temperature range that we use.

Celsius's general temperature scale is like -10 - 40 which is absolutely not intuitive because it doesn't look like any other scale we use as humans. I agree that we get used to Celsius fast and it's a fine it's not like it's super confusing (and Celsius is so much more useful scientifically).

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (7 children)

Which system did you grow up with? Because I grew up from the start with Celsius und it is 100% intuitive to me. Everytime you americans use your funny temperature numbers I have to stop and use a tool for transforming it or I simply ignore it and go "low means cold and high means hot, how high? Ain't nobody got time for dat!"

So I disagree with your notion that Fahrenheit is intuitive. The system you grew up with and have multiple experiences as reference points for, is the system you feel is intuitive is also my opinion.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I love it when it's -10% hot in winter nights or 110% hot around the equator. Makes perfect sense.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Yes, it does a better job of impressing that is all of the hot (or cold), and then 10% more than the difference between 38 and 43

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago (3 children)

I like the saying "Fahrenheit is what you feel, Celsius is what water feels, and Kelvin is what the universe feels".

[–] [email protected] 35 points 8 months ago (7 children)

Fahrenheit is what Americans feel, Celsius is what everyone else feels, and Kelvin is just Celsius +273.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Kelvin is just Celsius +274.15

Ftfy

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Use Kelvin then, 314°K is a way bigger number

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago (1 children)

No °, just K

314 K

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[+] [email protected] -7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Fahrenheit is best for ambient temperatures. 0 F is what humans feel is a very cold day, and 100 F is what humans feel is a very hot day.

Celsius is best for literally everything else, but for humans feeling of ambient temperature Fahrenheit is best

[–] [email protected] 43 points 8 months ago (26 children)

only if you grow up with fahrenheit.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (5 children)

100F was defined as the human body temperature (The guy they used had a cold or something so it's off by a degree and a half.)

That's useful for perception of heat. When the dry bulb gets above 100F, wind only cools you down by sweat evaporation, and when the wet bulb gets above 100F, even that can’t cool you down, and you will die if you don’t get to a cooler or drier environment.

This is more intuitive than 36.5C.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

what Fahrenheit used for his endpoints was 1) the melting point of a brine mixture that he didn't write down the ratio of, and 2) his wife's armpit.

those "bulb" things is something i only ever hear of from americans. it's never used here.

and I fail to see how two numbers are somehow differently intuitive. they are just numbers. also, 36.5 is too low. it's pretty much 37.0 now, because average body temp has interestingly enough shifted since he took those measurements.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (22 children)

So you're saying that 0 and 100 aren't intuitively obvious? I find that really strange when it's doing a better job keeping to base 10 than the metric system in this particular use case.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (10 children)

the numbers may be, but if you asked me to tell you what they feel like i would have to convert them to celsius first. where i live temperatures are generally between -30 and +30, and i could tell you in an instant what I would wear for a given temperature in that range. 50F though? no clue. since it's right between 0 and 100 i guess it would be just right, temperature wise, so t-shirt and long pants?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Can you remember that at temperatures near 0F and 100F, you need to take special precautions when going outside? The rest is a matter of getting used to what the numbers mean, but those are very intuitive danger points.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (10 children)

-18 is such an arbitrary place for "special precautions". at 0, I know to start driving more carefully since the roads ice up. at -15, i know to wear long johns. at +15, i know to start using a thinner jacket. at -30, i know to use a thick hat and wax on my cheeks to prevent the blood vessels from rupturing. at +30, I know to use a large hat and sun cream on my cheeks to prevent them from burning.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago (8 children)

When it comes to a single number on a scale, whatever you grew up with will be more "obvious". 100F doesn't give me any more information than 38C does. The whole "base 10" thing only matters if you are actually doing some math to that number.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (3 children)

Base 10 makes it much easier to remember.

When was the last time you did math related to temperature?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

Kelvin is used for math pretty regularly. Rankine was too.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

For Celsius, 0 is freezing cold and 100 is boiling hot - that's intuitive too.

I have literally never felt 0°F in my life and couldn't tell you how cold it is, just that it's very cold. I believe everyone has a rough understanding how 0°C and 100°C feel though.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

It is intuitive, and that's fine. Having the same intuition around human comfort zones is also fine. One measurement system can't really cover everything.

People tend not to want to live in places where it's routinely under 0F or over 100F. You'll tolerate it, but you won't like it. It's a very natural range of human comfort.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Fahrenheit is better because 69 is a nice temperature

[–] [email protected] 33 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Celsius is better because 69 is very hot

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Yes but we all know you will never experience that 69 (and I think you know it too)

[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago

What? Never been in a sauna? Do it, it's really nice!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

You do experience 69°C if you go to sauna before it's warm

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