Fahrenheit vs. Celsius

[MLD]

Ok, everybody has had their fun with this topic--lets try something practical, like a fast "in your head" conversion from Deg C to Deg F.

In your head--double C, then subtract 10% and add 32 to that number to get F For example--100C Double it--200 Subtract 10% or 20 to get 180 Add 32 to get (180+32) or 212F

another example-10C double it =20 less 10% or 20-2=18 add 32 or 18+32=50F If you practice it a while you can do this conversion within a few seconds. Like this one: Thought process---10C ,that's 20 less 2 or 18 +32=50 MLD

[clifto]

The problem is correcting for atmospheric pressure. Not a big problem, but some would overlook it.

[Doug Miller]

Doesn't make any significant difference in the freezing point, and the effect on the boiling point can easily be determined from reference books.

[Dick Adams]

ROTFLMOA - cause it's true!

Dick

[Dick Adams]

Maybe to you, but not to me. I really don't care which scale you use and you shouldn't care which scale I use. But when in Rome, do as the Romans.

It really doesn't matter! But I will put that in my treasure trove of trivial knowledge.

Dick

[Dick Adams]

Which means either Fahrenheit or Celsius! So much for the Kelvin Kline thermometer.

Now we're talkin. A barometric thermometer for the home. :)

Dick

[Joseph Meehan]

The interesting point is that while the medical community in the US has set 98.6º as the normal body temperature, they only chose that because of the metric equivalent. This of course makes it easier to say someone is X amount above or below "normal" but it is less accurate as the actual normal is closer to a couple of tenths above or below (I forget which). So because they stuck with the converted value rather than the actual they are really a little off.

[Sam E]

None, they're all on the outside.

[Dick Adams]

Silly, you just stand there and watch for it to boil.

The only times I care about temperature above 100F are when I am setting my water heater or pastuering honey

Sounds like a costume party to me. But this time let's do it to the duplicitious French and we dump their damn perfume into the harbor. :)

Dick

[Mark Lloyd]

6 Fingers on each hand? We do have remnants of a duodecimal (base 12) system. There's things like dozen (12^1), gross (12^2) and mass (12^3).

[Doug Miller]

What temperature it boils at depends on the atmospheric pressure. Weather doesn't really make very much difference (about 1 degree Fahrenheit per inch of mercury barometric pressure, IIRC), but altitude sure does. The boiling point of water in, say, Quito, Ecuador is a *lot* lower than it is in New York.

[morenuf]

Ah, unit conversions.

As in the old saying, "You give some people 2.54 centimeters they will take 1.609 Kilometers every time!"

Really, why aren't automobile speedometers in standard units like furlongs/fortnight?

Remember the millihelen? That's the amount of feminine pulchritude (beauty) that is necessary to launch one ship. (reference is Helen of Troy, whose beauty launched a 1000 ships).

Christopher Columbus got 3000 miles/galleon in 1492! Started with 3 galleons, returned with one ===used 2 galleons traveled across the Atlantic and back to Europe ===6000 miles traveled

6000 miles/2 galleons = 3000 miles/galleon

of course a Spanish galleon was pretty expensive in those days!

Sorry, I could not resist

Morenuf

[Sam E]

A centipede is 1/100 of a pede (a unit of impedance, obviously). A millipede is 1/1000 of a pede.

OT: In 15th century France, it was "normal" for rich people to suspect the local water supply, and they had the weird idea that water would be purified after passing through a person's body. Because of this, many poor people would earn money by providing used water to the rich. These people were called peeers. Because or the awkwardness of the word, one of the 'e's was removed. These people liked to meet to discuss the business. This is the origin of "peer to peer networking".

[Dick Adams]

Let's see:

- War of Conquest ..: My government is better than your government.

- War of Religion ..: My god is better than your god.

- War of Racism ....: My skin tone is better than your skin tone.

And now comes the

- War of Temperature Measurement ..: My scale is better than your scale.

Celsius is just a subset of the Kelvin Scale (C + 273.15 = K) and so is Fahrenheit (((F - 32) / 1.8) + 273.15 = K). But nobody appears to be in favor of switching to straight Kelvin?

Who gives a damn except people who like to argue about how many angels can sit on the point of a needle?

In the words of that great American philosopher, Arthur Fonzarelli, "Sit on it."

Dick

[Harry K]

Errm...I believe that the F scale was around long before the C. Could be wrong though.

Harry K

[Harry K]

Errm...I believe that the F scale was around long before the C. Could be wrong though.

Harry K

[Stormin Mormon]

I do remember that. My memory says the quote is "Sit on it, Potsie."

[Mark Lloyd]

I think so. There was an R scale in there somewhere too.

[clifto]

Um, altitude has a big effect on barometric pressure. The altimeters in aircraft depend on that.

[George E. Cawthon]

Doesn't translate too well; my yard is 100 feet wide.