this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2023
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submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by Masimatutu@lemm.ee to c/memes@lemmy.ml
 

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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[–] KrankyKong@lemmy.ml 8 points 10 months ago (3 children)

It's one of those things that truly and honestly just doesn't matter. Celsius makes more sense if you think about water freezing at 0 and boiling at 100, but beyond that it really doesn't make a big difference.

[–] mauwuro@lemmy.ml 3 points 10 months 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?

[–] dudewitbow@lemmy.ml -1 points 10 months 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.

[–] KrankyKong@lemmy.ml -1 points 10 months 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.

[–] mauwuro@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months 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

[–] KrankyKong@lemmy.ml 1 points 10 months ago

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

[–] set_secret@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

actually water melts at 0 deg it freezes below zero.

[–] uis@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Freezing/melting does not have hysteresis

[–] set_secret@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

thanks for teaching me a new word :)

[–] psud@aussie.zone 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

We live in a world rich in water. When the overnight temperature is below zero, we have frost, for example

[–] KrankyKong@lemmy.ml 1 points 10 months ago

Yeah, same here. When the temperature dips below 32 we get frost