Should the US adopt the Celsius unit of temperature?

I personally would oppose the U.S. adopting the Celsius unit of temperature. The reason is because (degrees) is what I am use to. When I hear what the weather forecast is going to be in (degrees), I will automatically know what that temperature is going to physically feel like to me.

As for the centigrade scale, it is less exact than Fahrenheit--one hundred degrees between water freezing and water boiling as compared to 180 degrees. Hell, the Kelvin scale works in the same fashion--water freezes at 273 degrees K and boils at 373 degrees K. Should everyone adopt that?

The metric system is supposed to be based on the "real" world, but is not accurate. The meter is supposed to be one ten millionth of a quarter arc of the circumference of the planet. However, in the 18th century, they didn't know that the planet is not perfectly spherical, so it's a fraud. 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 thousand feet of elevation? (At 20,000 feet, the atmospheric pressure is only a little more than one third the pressure at sea level.) Mean sea level before or after climate change melts the polar ice caps and the glaciers?

Give me a break . . . oh and a pound of butter, a gallon of milk and some quart Mason jars. Let's see, the wife wants three yards of fabric to match this swatch, oh, and I need to get some two-by-fours.

Which are nowhere close to 2" X 4"

I got your measurement right here.

Put another way:

Measure this, mofo.

I'm guessing that would come up even shorter than the 2 X 4.

We often use Celsius in the Winter and Fahrenheit in the Summer, that way it can below zero or approaching one hundred.

Using Celsius is more sensible, less complicated, but when has America ever wanted to do that?

Why don't you use metric for pipe sizes and English measures for lumber?

I dunno, I'm not a plumber or builder. It's not English measurements btw, but Imperial measurements.

We call them English measures. Get used to it.

That's not what they're called. Americans have a track record of getting things wrong, you also call Trump a president.

the 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 so that 1.005 degrees C can be accurately recorded (but not sensed by human)
Chemistry allows for maintaining of temps where the C and K equivalents can be measured on the same thermistor. (Ya cant do that with F).
Science doesnt walk around with a bigass mercury filled tube or "bi metal bars. Everything is done pretty much digitally with a thermistor .
of barium and titanium oxide in a ceramic (crystal glop) used.



As far as my weather report,All those degrees based on a huge spread of values allows me to rapidly assess how my day's gonna be by hearing what decade of temps Im in. I can also "sense" temp differences in English for small whole degrees.

That does make any sense Farmerman, there is nothing magic about a Celsius degrees You can have have 2K degrees Fahrenheit. And the Rankin's scale is no more arbitrary that Kelvin.

The fact that the Farenheit degree is smaller and more exact still count for something.

I've long rejected the notion that decimal-based measurements are superior to customary units in day-to-day situations. I can see their utility in science and in the lab where people are dealing with very large and very small measurements and need to be able to make quick conversions between various calculations but in practical life in the house, studio, and garage our old units based on a human scale work just fine thanks.

I once proposed a hybrid system where worldwide use of the metric standard is assumed but our "inch" is redefined to equal exactly 2.5 centimeters. A "foot" would measure exactly 30 cm. Conversions between the metric system and the hybrid Imperial system could be easily and accurately accomplished by using the factors of 2.5 or divisors of .4. The "quart" would be the same size as a liter, and a "pound" would be exactly ½ of a kilogram. A pint of water would still weigh a pound. Oh, it'd be slick. We could still use those great old units like "furlongs", "drams", and "leagues". The problem would be getting everyone to replace their old rulers, tape measures, scales, and measuring cups.

It would necessitate the sale of new instruments. The capitalists would love you for that.

Original question: Should the US adopt the Celsius unit of temperature?

Answer: No.

aren't most already dual? I've got an 80 year old kitchen scale that's dual measurement.

In order to make the conversions practical, the actual divisions would need to be changed. Of course it's not going to happen — it's more of a "thought experiment" based on my dislike of the sterile and somewhat artificial names of the metric units than a practical suggestion. But who uses "decameters" or "centiliters"? When I was in the army, kilometers were referred to as "kilos" or "clicks" because using the proper term was unwieldy. In the shop it's much more convenient to use customary measurements which can be estimated easily and divided into halves, thirds, and quarters. Obviously it's just what we're used to but I know that some woodworkers in other countries also use non-metric systems which they find easier.

I like the idea of being able to use English words for common lengths, weights, and quantities. Go into a pub and order a "pint" instead of .5 liters, or a "shot" rather than 60 ml. Estimate a "mile" by counting a thousand paces, that sort of thing. People decry the loss of various languages around the world — I feel similarly about systems of measurement used in different occupations and in other cultures. But I realize that standardization is pretty much unstoppable.

As far as Celsius and Fahrenheit go, I'm (not surprisingly) in the Fahrenheit camp.

grams and oz dont even measure the same thing. Gm is mass and Oz is weight, (which is mass divided by a rep..force of gravity)

I love the way we just use them interchangeably, like "one ounce = 28.35 grams"...and then there are "fluid ounces"...and Troy weight. Easy to see why the decimal system was developed.

There are about 5% of people who have any inkling of the difference between mass and weight (to where they could answer questions intelligently on what happens if there is no gravity).

Whether they are living under the imperial system or metric system makes no difference.

For all intents and purposes, most Earthlings use mass and weight interchangeably. In a recipe 2 oz is about 57 grams... which works in any practical situation that most of us will find ourselves in.