Gollum to Science Memes@mander.xyzEnglish • 9 months agoFahrenheit vs. Celsius vs. Kelvini.imgur.comimagemessage-square155fedilinkarrow-up1807
arrow-up1807imageFahrenheit vs. Celsius vs. Kelvini.imgur.comGollum to Science Memes@mander.xyzEnglish • 9 months agomessage-square155fedilink
minus-square@s_slinkEnglish6•edit-29 months ago I don’t think how hot humans feel works at all, it’s just arbitrary Fahrenheit was originally calculated to be 64 even divisions between water freezing temp and human body temp, then 32 more units below freezing. Then ambient human body temp was recalculated from 96F to 98.6F. So it’s not exactly arbitrary. It’s based on powers of 2, based upon an inaccurate measurement.
minus-square@bignate@discuss.tchncs.delinkfedilinkEnglish7•9 months agoI mean, the temperature 0 was assigned because it was the lowest temperature that winter in Fahrenheit’s town, and the “powers of two” was only chosen because it was simple to mark degree lines on his instrument. Feels quite arbitrary to me…
minus-square@1847953620@lemmy.worldlinkfedilinkEnglish1•9 months agoAnd yet, as a person, Fahrenheit seems far more intuitive and Celsius arbitrary.
Fahrenheit was originally calculated to be 64 even divisions between water freezing temp and human body temp, then 32 more units below freezing.
Then ambient human body temp was recalculated from 96F to 98.6F.
So it’s not exactly arbitrary. It’s based on powers of 2, based upon an inaccurate measurement.
I mean, the temperature 0 was assigned because it was the lowest temperature that winter in Fahrenheit’s town, and the “powers of two” was only chosen because it was simple to mark degree lines on his instrument. Feels quite arbitrary to me…
And yet, as a person, Fahrenheit seems far more intuitive and Celsius arbitrary.