this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2024
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It's the same reason we use abbreviations and contractions when speaking. A trivial simplification is still a simplification.
Why bother with Celcius at all when there is Kelvin. Even Kelvin is arbitrary. Best to use Planck normalized temperature. The scale would be absolute 0 to 100 where 0 is absolute 0 and 100 is 10^32 Kelvin.
So whenever you have to tell someone the temperature outside, you say it's 0.000000000000000000000000015237 Planck
If 3 digits isn't more a tiny bit more cumbersome than 2, then 32 digits is fine too.
We don't have issues with decimals in many places. For example, why are there pennies? Why aren't dollars just scaled up 100? Generally speaking: why don't people immediately shift to the lower unit when talking about e.g. 3.5 miles? If you're correct, those should be simplified too - yet they aren't.
Because Celsius uses a scale that relies on temperatures you're encountering in your everyday life.
Why? That scale is still arbitrarily chosen.
But that's the same reason given for Farenheit!
It's not arbitrary in that it represents the fundamental limits of temperature in the universe. Planck units are fundamental to the nature of the universe rather than based on any arbitrary object.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_units
I would also argue that Fahrenheit is better-suited for everyday life than Kelvin is. Both Celsius and Fahrenheit are objectively closer to temperatures we encounter. Fahrenheit being closer than Celsius is subjective. Do you understand?
There are still a bunch of arbitrary decisions:
All of these are arbitrary decisions you've made when you suggested Planck temperature with a scale from 0 to 100. Do you understand?
Given that you already said you have to use 3 digits to give Celsius the range that matches human temperature sensing, that's not true. 1 degree F is the average threshold that humans can perceive a difference in temperature. It's why thermostats use 3 digits for Celsius but only 2 for Farenheit.
The only reason you say C matches people is because you are used to 21.5 C being a regular indoor temperature. If you grew up with Kelvin that would be 294.5 K. Three digits instead of four.
Doesn't matter. Base 10 would be better so it matches the rest of metric. The decimal place shifts one space but that doesn't change the number of digits needed to represent a temperature.
Zero is absolute zero. You can't have below zero because temperature is a measure of motion.
Linear to match the rest of the metric system.