Best temperature scale?

[Fourstaff]

/starting a flame war
You know, if Americans are not dumb/lazy enough to learn the metric system we will not be having this conversation. Everyone else is using the metric, and you don't hear them wanting to go to imperial, do you? Whereas there are enough Americans who would rather use metric.

 

[Frick]

4. It's easy to remember. 37C is not unless you were raised on Celcius. I didn't know that.
6. If the temperature is negative, you better not go out unless you got at least a quarter tank of fuel in your car and you better have thermo blankets and other gear in case you get stranded. Failing to could easily mean death.

4. Which is the entire point. You're used to fahrenheit, so it's easy to remember. I know it's 37C and I consider it easy to remember.
6. BS. -F is not dangerous until you get down to the -20s. This is also about upbringing. It's also confusing to me as 100F ~ 37C, but -10F ~ -23C. Makes no sense to me, C scales properly.

 

[Bo$$]

/starting a flame war
You know, if Americans are not dumb/lazy enough to learn the metric system we will not be having this conversation. Everyone else is using the metric, and you don't hear them wanting to go to imperial, do you? Whereas there are enough Americans who would rather use metric.

^These^ are wise words.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication#Conversion_process
i can see that most of this is shit, as it said that in the UK we use imperial (which is utter BS) until I fixed it. But only a few countries still use the old fashion system.

It seems illogical to measure temperature in 2 ways one for sciecne and the other on a daily basis. If say 80% of the planet can survive without the joy of Fahrenheit then, I think those who use it are being damn stubborn as there ARE NO ADVANTAGES of using it

 

[Peter1986C]

I have read replies that assume that water boils at 100C, but this is not always the case AFAIK. In elevated areas, were air pressure is lower, water actually boils at a higher temperature.

 

[Sihastru]

Celsius all the way, "F" makes no sense to me... Also the metric system, I don't understand miles and gallons... kilometers and liters are things I can relate to... Can you imagine, I don't even get the jokes in movies when they make reference to the size of the male reproductive organ and they say it's x inches. What in the world is an inch? Is 12 inches a good size or a bad size?

These things are imprinted on you the moment you open your eyes after birth. It's not about which one is better or worse, it's about the place you live and the place you had your education. When you drive you either see miles or kilometers, when you fill the gas tank is either gallons or liters... it's almost never both. It's not like black and white, it's like green and orange.

From all the temperatures scales in this world, I think Kelvin makes the most sense. C/F are based on human perception of the environment. Also K is the only temperature scale that does not have the word degree in it. It's that absolute.

 

[Bo$$]

I have read replies that assume that water boils at 100C, but this is not always the case AFAIK. In elevated areas, were air pressure is lower, water actually boils at a higher temperature.

Lower Temp you mean

 

[Wyverex]

I have read replies that assume that water boils at 100C, but this is not always the case AFAIK. In elevated areas, were air pressure is lower, water actually boils at a higher temperature.

Both ice melting and water boiling temperatures vary due to, among other things, air pressure (as you already mentioned, although a bit wrongly ) and water purity (added substances decrease the melting point and increase the boiling point)

The base for the Celsius scale is pure (distilled) water under standard atmospheric pressure (101325 Pa)

 

[Widjaja]

I was brought up understanding degC so I can interpret what temperature I should feel a lot more accurately.

There are a few of them I prefer just due to everyday use.

Liters over Gallons, kilometers over Miles, kg over of pounds.

If I was brought up in the US I am sure it would all be around the other way.

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

/starting a flame war
You know, if Americans are not dumb/lazy enough to learn the metric system we will not be having this conversation. Everyone else is using the metric, and you don't hear them wanting to go to imperial, do you? Whereas there are enough Americans who would rather use metric.

Consider the war joined. If you're going to rip on Americans consider:

Britain stands firmly against the Euro, despite being part of the European Union.
Miles are still on highway labels in Britain (as of early 2010).
The whole of the European Union, with the exception of Britain, driver on the right hand side of the road.

It takes about 0.001 seconds for a person to find something stupid in a country if they really put a little bit of effort in. I'll take my Fahrenheit stupid any day of the week. I'm not proud of the people in my country who have decided to create 1.5 trillion in debt for me to deal with once they retire. There is no country without fault, just those whose fault you can deal with.

 

[mlee49]

Kelvin

Absolute Zero homeys

 

[FordGT90Concept]

/starting a flame war
You know, if Americans are not dumb/lazy enough to learn the metric system we will not be having this conversation. Everyone else is using the metric, and you don't hear them wanting to go to imperial, do you? Whereas there are enough Americans who would rather use metric.

We use what is practical for the application. We don't use what some group scientist ramthroated through politics.

Celcius isn't practical for anything unless you deal with the boiling and freezing temperatures of water on a daily basis. Kelvin is only practical if you constantly deal with temperatures close to absolute zero. Fahrenheit is practical for weather and body temperature (relevant to every day needs). I wonder why the rest of the world isn't using Fahrenheit because, for people not boiling water or playing with liquid hydrogen on a daily basis, it makes the most sense.

 

[digibucc]

and anyone who starts a flame war over temperature measurement needs to take a long hard look at themselves.

i'm american, and i can find many many more important things to hate about my country than the imperial measurement system.

 

[Fourstaff]

We use what is practical for the application. We don't use what some group scientist ramthroated through politics.

Enjoy your Imperial system then, while everyone else is using metric. Starting metric is like getting a child to have an injection: the benefits cannot be seen by the person enjoying the benefit. Which is why America is in such a deepshit: they refuse to take the medicine, and the politicians don't have the balls/will to force the medicine down the throat.

 

[Peter1986C]

What in the world is an inch? Is 12 inches a good size or a bad size?

An International inch is 2.54 centimetres*
Though I couldn't find the length in metrics of the Imperial and US inch.

And 12 inches is a size one cannot apply to a human penis, because (asuming international inches) 12 x 2.54 = 30.48 cm. That's a horse's thing we are talking about!

----------------------------------------------
*Americans, I know you think that this is a silly spelling and you have a good point. Yet, please don't start to moan that it "should be" centimeters, because I am not allowed to take only the good points of both US and Imperial spelling and mix them. So if I write "realise" (instead of US "realize") I have to be consistent and write "centimetres" instead of the more sensible "centimeters"

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Enjoy your Imperial system...

I do, I really do.

Starting metric is like getting a child to have an injection: the benefits cannot be seen by the person enjoying the benefit. Which is why America is in such a deepshit: they refuse to take the medicine, and the politicians don't have the balls/will to force the medicine down the throat.

Computers defeated the purpose of metric, really. You can almost instanteously convert any unit into the format which is most practical rather than which is most convertable. As such, it makes sense to use the units which best describe the situation, not the one that best allows you to convert between subunit types.

 

[Fourstaff]

Computers defeated the purpose of metric, really. You can almost instanteously convert any unit into the format which is most practical rather than which is most convertable. As such, it makes sense to use the units which best describe the situation, not the one that best allows you to convert between subunit types.

Lets consider a hypothetical situation that you are brought up in a metric system. Would you have gone to Fahrenheit? But scientists brought up in a Fahrenheit environment more often than not switches to metric, and is forced to use both because the tv wouldn't show temps in celsius and his work is more convenient in celsius. Now lets consider that fisherman/farmer/joe etc over there who is brought up in a celsius environment. Would he willingly change to fahrenheit because certain values are more easily remembered? I don't think so, given that he is already so proficient in celsius measures. We can clearly see that moving to celsius is beneficial to some, while moving to fahrenheit will only bring marginal benefits, if at all.

 

[Frick]

Celcius isn't practical for anything unless you deal with the boiling and freezing temperatures of water on a daily basis. Kelvin is only practical if you constantly deal with temperatures close to absolute zero. Fahrenheit is practical for weather and body temperature (relevant to every day needs). I wonder why the rest of the world isn't using Fahrenheit because, for people not boiling water or playing with liquid hydrogen on a daily basis, it makes the most sense.

All about upbringing. I think celsius is an excellent way to measure body and weather temps. If you were swedish instead you'd think the same way. F makes zero sense to me no matter how much I use it.

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

Lets consider a hypothetical situation that you are brought up in a metric system. Would you have gone to Fahrenheit?

The question is which system is better, not what the global bias is for a temperature scale. The fact is that you don't like Fahrenheit. Fine. The second you start telling me I, or by extension my country, am stupid is the second I become far harder to talk to without fiercely defending my way of life. You have gone about slandering a way of life, not a measurement system.

All about upbringing. I think celsius is an excellent way to measure body and weather temps. If you were swedish instead you'd think the same way. F makes zero sense to me no matter how much I use it.

This is a fair criticism, upbringing does play a role in acceptance. You say 24C is nice, I say 76F is nice. It's the same thing. The second someone comes forward with a scale that makes real sense (Rankine or Kelvin) we both think they're natives of Venus. It's a matter of opinion, which is entirely informed by personal experince.

 

[cheesy999]

i can see that most of this is shit, as it said that in the UK we use imperial (which is utter BS) until I fixed it. But only a few countries still use the old fashion system.

we use a mix of imperial and metric actually - look at the cars being measured in miles per gallon, road being measured in miles, and most older style houses are all built in imperial, infact most rulers and thermometers have both imperial and metric on them for a reason, one i thing i must point out though is that the uk imperial measurements for volume (along with some other things) are different to the US

UK = distances is imperial or metric (miles and cm), volumes in imperial or metric (pints and litre), weights in imperial or metric (stone and kgram), energy in imperial or metric(kcal/joules) etc

 

[zehpavora]

Let me join you, I find this discussion rather amazing.

The best temperature scale is the one that represents temperature the best way possible.

So, which one wins? None.
Why is that? Very simple, really. Every scale has its uses.

Celcius is good because of a steady progression in temperature.

Fahrenheit is good because it (supposedly) has better temperature marks and does not use decimals (that often, you can use in calculations).

Kelvin is good because it is the International Standard, only works with positive values and it is easy to convert to and from.

There is no way of defining the best scale since it is all about the one you have better affinity with. We use Celcius here in Brasil and I used Fahrenheit when I lived in the US.

I find it hard to use Fahrenheit since I'm used to "logical" progressions in temperature, but it seems that, when in times of great temperature changes, such as winter-spring, Fahrenheit is more useful than Celcius.

This discussion will go on forever if you guys don't realize that it's all about personal choices.

 

[Fourstaff]

The question is which system is better, not what the global bias is for a temperature scale. The fact is that you don't like Fahrenheit. Fine. The second you start telling me I, or by extension my country, am stupid is the second I become far harder to talk to without fiercely defending my way of life. You have gone about slandering a way of life, not a measurement system.

That is not slander, I feel that people are not looking "from the other perspective" enough. My apologies if I did cross a line. I do not detest Fahrenheit, but I do find that Celsius is the better system and Fahrenheit cannot be defended in almost any way other than "I am familiar/comfortable with this scale". At the end of the day, we can argue forever but nothing will change; I will continue to use and support Celsius, while you will do the same for Fahrenheit.

 

[erocker]

Enjoy your Imperial system then, while everyone else is using metric. Starting metric is like getting a child to have an injection: the benefits cannot be seen by the person enjoying the benefit. Which is why America is in such a deepshit: they refuse to take the medicine, and the politicians don't have the balls/will to force the medicine down the throat.

I don't know about the rest of Americans but I as an American find boundless enjoyment in people not from America being so concerned with my country. A country where Ferenheit and the Imperial system are king. It works and works well. Don't like it? Turn off your TV, or start paying attention to your own country as I don't see how it matters one bit or another. They are units of measurement and nothing more. The ends justify the means no matter what means you are going by for measurement. I could care less about some other countries perspective on measurement. If I would move to a country that uses a different form of measurement than my current country I would use that. It makes zero difference.

You know, if Americans are not dumb/lazy enough to learn the metric system we will not be having this conversation

...and get over yourself please. Every American I know, knows both systems. Stop being dumb/lazy and find out the truth before opening your mouth.

Now where's the "which side of the road should we drive on" thread? It makes a big difference and is very important to science!

 

[Solaris17]

I use kelvins in my daily life C and F are small time.

 

[cheesy999]

we use a mix of imperial and metric actually - look at the cars being measured in miles per gallon, road being measured in miles, and most older style houses are all built in imperial, infact most rulers and thermometers have both imperial and metric on them for a reason, one i thing i must point out though is that the uk imperial measurements for volume (along with some other things) are different to the US

UK = distances is imperial or metric (miles and cm), volumes in imperial or metric (pints and litre), weights in imperial or metric (stone and kgram), energy in imperial or metric(kcal/joules) etc

I don't know about the rest of Americans but I as an American find boundless enjoyment in people not from America being so concerned with my country. A country where Ferenheit and the Imperial system are king. It works and works well. Don't like it? Turn off your TV, or start paying attention to your own country as I don't see how it matters one bit or another. They are units of measurement and nothing more. The ends justify the means no matter what means you are going by for measurement.

you'd be suprised how many people abroad still use imperial, i buy pints of milk and 1/4 pound burgers, and people drive their cars miles

 

[Peter1986C]

i'm american, and i can find many many more important things to hate about my country than the imperial measurement system.

True, though on a sidenote, your nation does not use the Imperial system but US Contemporary (if I remember the name right). A US gallon, for example, is not equal to an imperial gallon; and the same is true for tons. There may be other examples, but I don't know much about either of those systems. I grew up with metric and Celsius, at secondary school Kelvin got introduced but that scale is meant for science of the math/physics/chemistry/etc. category and that's not quite my field.