this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 47 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

Celsius is tied to points of ice melting and water vaporising. Since water is very important for the life on our planet, it makes even more sense than arbitrary chosen meters or seconds.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago

At sea level. Welcome to La Paz, where the triple point is made up and the freezing point doesn't matter!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (3 children)

And similarly, Fahrenheit seems to be tied to the internal temperature of the human body, with 100 degrees being the maximum that the average person can handle before their organs start to be damaged.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

Yes, Fahrenheit is about humans, and Celsius is about the element that makes life possible. The latter is more generic.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Maximum is 100 °F and minimum is 95 °F. Those seem pretty arbitrary to me

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

But not everybody experiences temperature the same, so using a system based on what 'humans' like, seems a bit useless

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

It's not about what humans "like," it's about the human bodies' internal operating temperature and using that as a reference point, the same way that Celsius is about the states of matter of water . Fahrenheit is useful in medicine for that reason, while Celsius is useful anytime a comparison to water is helpful, and beyond that, it's really just whatever you grew up with. Using a system based on what water "likes" is equally as useless unless you grew up using it as your reference point for temperature in your daily life. Neither 75 Fahrenheit or 23.8889 Celsius tell me whether or not I'm going to need a jacket today unless I've already experienced said temperature and use that scale in my daily life.