Should the US adopt the Celsius unit of temperature?

Forums: Science, Celcius, Fahrenheit, Centigrade Scale, Si Derived Unit
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And if so? How would it be enacted? Enforced?

Public Policy? Federal law? Free market (basically enough consumers abandon the Fahrenheit scale?

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Type: Question • Score: 20 • Views: 5,937 • Replies: 111

[+4] - farmerman - 01/08/2018the only reaso we use C in science is that it is used for temps waaay beyond just water boiling. Acidic v Basic magma melts are separated by 1 or 2K degrees C. (nd thermiistors are accurte enough...
[+3] - roger - 01/07/2018[quote="maxdancona"] Fahrenheit also matches my subjective experience of weather pretty well; 0F is the border of extremely cold, 100F is the border of extremely hot. [/quote] A...
[+3] - ekename - 01/07/2018[quote]Fahrenheit also matches my subjective experience of weather pretty well; 0F is the border of extremely cold, 100F is the border of extremely hot.[/quote] Celsius matches my understanding...
[+3] - Roberta - 01/08/2018Original question: Should the US adopt the Celsius unit of temperature? Answer: No.
[+3] - centrox - 01/08/2018[quote="farmerman"]Gm is mass and Oz is weight[/quote] Grams and ounces can be mass or weight.
[+3] - farmerman - 01/08/2018looks like he's shortin me when he makes a martini
[+3] - engineer - 01/08/2018It's just a matter of getting used to a new system. 0 is cold, 10 is cool, 20 is pleasant, 30 is hot, 40 is sweltering, no big deal. It's also no big deal to leave it like it is. If everyone...
[+3] - engineer - 01/09/2018[quote="maxdancona"] It is more precise in Fahrenheit. There is no advantage to Celsius. There is no scientific advantage to Celsius, and the Fahrenheit degrees allow for more...
[+3] - Olivier5 - 01/09/2018[quote]The gram is supposed to be the weight of a cubic centimeter of water. Oh yeah? Salt water or fresh? at mean sea level or at twenty thousandÂ feetÂ of elevation?[/quote]...
[+3] - Olivier5 - 01/09/2018I would guess that the difference in gravity between 18th century sea level and today's sea level is minute, downright negligeable for all purpose. Indeed, the size of the international foot is...

View best answer, chosen by tsarstepan

@tsarstepan,

The idea for years was to teach American children how to use metric. Each year in school we were given 20 minutes or so of metric info. It was even found in the front or back panel of hardbound notebooks.

Being a stubborn crowd, the children rejected the entire notion of metrics. Celsius seemed to be a tool of the devil and didn't have the familiars of Fahrenheit. The students won and Fahrenheit was saved!

(besides which, a man with Polish heritage crafted the Fahrenheit scale)

1 Reply

@tsarstepan,

I prefer Fahrenheit because it has more degrees between freezing and boiling (180 vs 100). This means that you can be more precise while using only integers. Fahrenheit also matches my subjective experience of weather pretty well; 0F is the border of extremely cold, 100F is the border of extremely hot.

Would you be inclined to read a book titled "Celsius 232.778"?

4 Replies

@maxdancona,

maxdancona wrote:

I prefer Fahrenheit because it has more degrees between freezing and boiling

I prefer Fahrenheit because I prefer to keep things warm!

I mean, would you rather go out on a 86-degree day or a 30-degree day?

QE fuckin' D.
America -- **** yeah!

0 Replies

The rest of the world? What's that?

0 Replies

@maxdancona,

maxdancona wrote:

Would you be inclined to read a book titled "Celsius 232.778"?

Fahrenheit 451 is in my top five favorite books of all time. But you're missing the simple error in the title. Paper doesn't NECESSARILY burn at 451 degrees.

Quote:

Not quite. Bradbury’s title refers to the auto-ignition point of paper—the temperature at which it will catch fire without being exposed to an external flame. In truth, there’s no authoritative value for this. Experimental protocols differ, and the auto-ignition temperature of any solid material is a function of its composition, volume, density, and shape, as well as its time of exposure to the high temperature. Older textbooks report a range of numbers for the auto-ignition point of paper, from the high 440s to the low 450s, but more recent experiments suggest it’s about 30 degrees hotter than that.

1 Reply

@Sturgis,

Sturgis wrote:

Being a stubborn crowd, the children rejected the entire notion of metrics. Celsius seemed to be a tool of the devil and didn't have the familiars of Fahrenheit. The students won and Fahrenheit was saved!

But are Celsius and the Metric systems inseparable/permanently linked? I'm assuming we could take celsius and bugger the Metric system for the next couple of more generations.

1 Reply

@tsarstepan,

I would be happy to switch to metric for any other unit of measure; meters, liters, kilograms...

But, I would like to keep my Fahrenheit degrees. Metric doesn't matter for temperature, we don't ever talk about kilodegrees.

0 Replies

@maxdancona,

maxdancona wrote:

Fahrenheit also matches my subjective experience of weather pretty well; 0F is the border of extremely cold, 100F is the border of extremely hot.

A small quibble. My perception is that 11f is the point at which cold air becomes immediately painful. Not to say you're not entitled to your own silly perceptions.

2 Replies

@roger,

30-40 years ago, maybe, today I am to fing old. It would just blow my mind, which I no longer consider a good thing!

1 Reply

@tsarstepan,

tsarstepan wrote:

maxdancona wrote:

Would you be inclined to read a book titled "Celsius 232.778"?

Fahrenheit 451 is in my top five favorite books of all time. But you're missing the simple error in the title. Paper doesn't NECESSARILY burn at 451 degrees.

Quote:
Not quite. Bradbury’s title refers to the auto-ignition point of paper—the temperature at which it will catch fire without being exposed to an external flame. In truth, there’s no authoritative value for this. Experimental protocols differ, and the auto-ignition temperature of any solid material is a function of
its composition, volume, density, and shape, as well as its time of exposure to the high temperature. Older textbooks report a range of numbers for the auto-ignition point of paper, from the high 440s to the low 450s, but more recent experiments suggest it’s about 30 degrees hotter than that.

So, your saying the book should be titled "Pretty Damn Close to Fahrenheit 451"? Laughing

BTW, I love Ray Bradbury! His short story and Martain writings are the best. You read some stories and don't realize the setting is Mars until the very end.

1 Reply

@BillW,

we use C and K all the time in Thermo and melting of rock and ores. Thats because the reln is decimal , not 0.05555.
However, I like my weather report in Fahrenheit cause It based on BP of water not the trip point. I cn figure how to dress foreach 10 degree F change of . In weather, C doesnt make much sense to me.

1 Reply

@BillW,

I think it should be heated to 451f. If it doesn't burn, fine. If it does, well, problem solved.

0 Replies

@roger,

Quote:

My perception is that 11f is the point at which cold air becomes immediately painful.

I see what you did there, Roger Wink

.

You mean we're not going to have a five page argument over this?

0 Replies

@maxdancona,

Quote:

Fahrenheit also matches my subjective experience of weather pretty well; 0F is the border of extremely cold, 100F is the border of extremely hot.

Celsius matches my understanding of temperature pretty well :

0ºC is freezing cold and 100ºC is boiling hot.

America should not adopt the Celsius scale because I like to double it, take away a tenth and add 32 to C.

1 Reply

@tsarstepan,

Yes I think we should. As well as the rest of the metric system.
As a kid in grammar school in the 70's they made it sound as if the switch was imminent. We learned the metric system and around that time product labels began including metric weights and volumes. It seemed as if this was a big deal and everyone was on board and then it just fizzled away.
I have cousins in Canada and they made the switch around the same time. It took some time but they got used to it. Now when cousin Frank tells me a story about how hot it was last summer while he was building a deck he very naturally says it was 35. I do a double take and then quickly do the conversion.
We should join the rest of the world and just do it.

0 Replies

My idea of HOT corresponds to a a slutty bleached blonde Babe with big tits wearin a mini-skirt with nylon hose and tons of mascara, eh?

0 Replies

@farmerman,

farmerman wrote:

In weather, C doesnt make much sense to me.

it's easy

40C you're melting
30C it's hot
20C it's warm
10C it's cool
0C its cold'

-30C **** off I'm not going out there, the dog can poop in the house

1 Reply

@tsarstepan,

of course it should be enacted by strict indoctrination and enforced with highly punitive laws.
Death penalty for anyone caught using the old system.
Would this breed an anti-metric underground?
Illicit products labeled with ounces and pounds?
Secret societies and clandestine meetings?

1 Reply

@TomTomBinks,

and, temperature cop with assault weapons, battle gear and BearCats!

2 Replies

Should the US adopt the Celsius unit of temperature?

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