Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Vampyricon's avatar

I will say that the Fahrenheit argument is still unconvincing. Why should I care about how my temperature scale fits temperatures where other people live? To me, the scale of hot to cold ranges from 0 to 40. Obviously it's suboptimal that it ends at 40, but it sure beats starting at 40.

I would further argue that, even if you live in a place that goes below 0 Celsius, Celsius is still a good scale. Even though we want to talk about the weather and not water, the temperature of the freezing point of water is still pretty important because we have pipes filled with water. Whether the weather is at a point where it will freeze and burst pipes is pretty important, if you ask me.

But I still think kelvins are objectively superior. The issue is that no one else is getting with the program. Which is the only thing that matters in the end.

Expand full comment
Ian Simbotin's avatar

I don't even remember how long it took me to get used to the Fahrenheit scale when I first came to the US, but I'm sure I kept converting temperatures back in Celsius for a long while... Eventually, the Fahrenheit became comfortable and convenient, and now I find myself converting the other way around... Humans are creatures of comfort, and a small change in temperature makes a big difference, which is why finer gradations are more suitable. A change of ten degrees F (nine, actually) can feel like a big deal, but it's only about five degrees C.

Expand full comment
4 more comments...

No posts