this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2023
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submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

alt textComic strip of a ghost and a person with the American flag pasted on the head. The ghost repeats "Boo!" in the first three panels without getting any reaction, but when it in the fourth panel says "kg, cm, km, °C" the American gets scared and screams "AHHHH!!!".

Edit: fixed alt text

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

what happens at 0 F?

I mean 0 C is when the water change its state, but then what happens at 0 F?

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nothing in particular, it's an arbitrary starting point. But that's really not a good reason to knock it.

Does water actually freeze at 0 celsius? It depends on the air pressure, right? I guess 0 celsius is the freezing point of water at sea level, but air pressure's not consistent at all. I guess maybe it's the temperature water freezes at the average air pressure at sea level? I assume that's the case.

The point I'm trying to make is the Celsius isn't super rock solid either, and it really doesn't affect anything if water freezes at 0 or 32 degrees. The best argument for celsius is that it's standard, but that doesn't make necessarily make it better.

If we really cared about having a rock-solid starting point, we'd use Kelvin because you literally cannot go below 0.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

yeah I was looking for something like "at 0 F something happens" as in Centigrades you can be sure that at 0C and with 1atm the water will freeze, instead of something arbitrary, so you can compare calibrate instruments

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Well it doesn't really matter what you were looking for lol. I promise you Fahrenheit thermometers are calibrated same as Celsius ones.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago

The lower point of Fahrenheight is near the freezing point of brine (salt water) which freezes at -6 F (-21 C).

It was designed around what the coldest day at the time of its invention could get and the 100F was marked around how hot the hottest day of the year at the timr would get. Hence its choice to scale 0-100 to local weather vs celcius' choice to use kelvin and offset it to standardize it to pure water.