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xkcd #3001: Temperature Scales (xkcd.com)

submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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In my new scale, °X, 0 is Earths' record lowest surface temperature, 50 is the global average, and 100 is the record highest, with a linear scale between each point and adjustment every year as needed.

https://explainxkcd.com/3001/

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 3 weeks ago (10 children)

Technically they arr arbitrary yes, but sometimes some arbitrary makes more sense than others. Why is fahrenheit 0 at -32°C? Accordinfmg to wikipedia he chose 0°F as the melting point of water and ammonium chloride (what percentage of solution?) and the highest was initially "the average of the hottest temperature of a healthy man". Do you see why this feels more arbitrady then " the melting and boiling point of water at 101.300 Pa"? Not only these points are constant and measurable, but water is such ubiqutous in human life that it feels at least less arbitrary as a reference point.

Historically, it was ok. Now it just doesn't make much sense, sincd we tried (and mostly succeded) to standardize measurements units for centuries (and make them all base 10)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago (9 children)

I don’t really use the Fahrenheit scale for anything, but when I bump into it, I prefer to think of those values as: 0°F is a cold winter and 100°F is a hot summer weather. Makes sense for the human experience, which makes it a very practical unit. The original definition was more technical than that, but it was also severely limited by the technology at the time, so it had some flaws.

You also have to look at these units in the proper historical context. Measurements were a complete mess, so having at least something that sort of makes some sense and is somewhat repeatable, is a clear improvement. Both, Fahrenheit and Celcius scales totally addressed those concerns, and that makes them both good enough. Absolute zero and plank temperature weren’t even known back then, so what can you expect.

When it comes to using these units in serious scientific and engineering applications, you run into problems, but the kelvin scale addresses those pretty well. It’s not exactly elegant, but at least it’s functional. Because of historical baggage, we’re pretty much stuck with these units, but it could be worse.

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

0 is an extremely cold winter. Like you're going to die very quickly if you're outside without extreme weather gear.

Where I'm at, mid east coast, we only have a few days each winter get below 20, which is already hellishly cold.