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Does Fahrenheit have certain ground rules like "water boils at 100 degrees" and "water freezes at 0 degrees"?
No. The ground rules for Fahrenheit do not have a recognizable or memorable pattern. Water boils at 212°F and freezes at 32°F, which translates to 100°C and 0°C respectively, but it is not easy to remember as with Celsius.
When we lived in Europe, I could actually feel and tell the temperature without looking at the thermometer, but my husband could not understand Celsius, so I had to translate Celsius to Fahrenheit to him by using the 9/5+32 formula. Not an easy mental calculation.
Last edited by Ol' Wanderer; 01-17-2012 at 10:33 PM..
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ol' Wanderer
No. The ground rules for Fahrenheit do not have a recognizable or memorable pattern. Water boils at 212°F and freezes at 32°F, which translates to 100°C and 0°C respectively, but it is not easy to remember as with Celsius.
Wrong; it does.
When the Fahrenheit scale was first conceived in the 18th century, 0°F was the lowest possible temperature a water/salt mixture could be kept liquid, and 100°F was the human body temperature. - although later, with more refined instruments it was later found out that human body temperature was slighly lower than that...
Still, the Fahrenheit scale in my opinion, although it has little scientific value, has a lot of value in day to day life - 100°F is more or less the temperature where your body becomes exponentially more at risk for heatstroke and hyperthermia, and 0°F is more or less the limit to where your body can keep itself warm, frostbite becomes a serious risk for exposed skin below these tempertures. Also, salting roads to keep them navigable makes no more sense below these temperature for example. 0°F and 100°F mark more or less the temperatures (although on the uncomforable ends) where humans can live without the need for extraordinary or technological measures to keep life comfortable and manageable. It's not without a reason that all big civilizations appeared in places where temperatures do not regularily exceed these marks, as the elements were less of a worry in these places to ensure survival, thereby allowing humans to allocate more time to pursue cultural and technological goals...
So, from a human perspective, I personally put great value in the Fahrenheit scale, but from a scientific perspective I'd prefer either Celsius or Kelvin - Kelvin being the best for this, Celsius somewhat holding the middle ground between a scientific and a human scale.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ol' Wanderer
When we lived in Europe, I could actually feel and tell the temperature without looking at the thermometer, but my husband could not understand Celsius, so I had to translate Celsius to Fahrenheit to him by using the 9/5+32 formula. Not an easy mental calculation.
Actually, within the "human comfort zone" - it's fairly easy - as 50°F = 10°C. equalling 70°F to 20°C, 90°F to 30°C, 30°F to 0°C and 10°F to -10°C only puts one off by a few degrees, so in this temperature regions it's not very inaccurate to just multiply by 2 and use 50°F/10°C as the "baseline"...
IMO, a memorable pattern is something that is easy to remember. 5, 10, 100. Something that can be taught to children, ABCDEFG, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, etc.
212 and 32, to me, is not simple or recognizable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Proterra
100°F is more or less the temperature where your body becomes exponentially more at risk for heatstroke and hyperthermia, and 0°F is more or less the limit to where your body can keep itself warm.
I disagree. 100°F is the norm in many US states more than six months out of the year. People play sports, run marathons, and function normally in 100°F. Tour de France and Vuelta a España are both held in 100°F. Heat stroke and hyperthermia do happen, but rarely at 100°F.
OTOH, I doubt many people would be willing to expose themselves without any form of protection in 0°F in the belief that the body can keep itself warm. Maybe people who live in Antarctica would, but not sane people I know.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Proterra
Actually, within the "human comfort zone" - it's fairly easy ... only puts one off by a few degrees, so in this temperature regions it's not very inaccurate to just multiply by 2 and use 50°F/10°C as the "baseline"...
True in most cases, but I was talking about my husband in my post. To one of the original beach bums from Southern California, the difference of a few degrees when it is below 0°C is a whole lot more than just a small number. In theory, it may not be much, but in reality, it is a difference between overcoat, gloves and scarf, or just jacket and hat.
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Celsius makes way more sense to me, especially at lower temperatures. 0C as the freezing point of water is easy to imagine. I cannot imagine what 0F is like, then again I've never felt anything that cold.
It's easy to estimate in celsius:
Below 0C is 'cold'
0 to 10C is 'cool'
10 to 20C is 'mild'
20 to 30C is 'warm'
30 and over is 'hot'
Celsius makes more sense. There is no reason to protect the Fahrenheit scale, except the nostalgic one. A water/salt mixture is no base in our daily life.
0 degrees Celsius: It is freezing. Water gets hard. Scratch your car, be careful on the road
100 degrees Celsius: Water is boiling.
I disagree. 100°F is the norm in many US states more than six months out of the year. People play sports, run marathons, and function normally in 100°F. Tour de France and Vuelta a España are both held in 100°F. Heat stroke and hyperthermia do happen, but rarely at 100°F.
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what? where in france does it gets 100f everyday???
thats Texas, or Arizona, not France or Spain!!!
what? where in france does it gets 100f everyday???
thats Texas, or Arizona, not France or Spain!!!
And heatstroke can easily happen at 100f!
100°F is a little over 30°C, right? That's not uncommon in the summer in France or Spain. Nobody said it was everyday, Ol' Wanderer specifically mentioned the Tour de France (Juli) and the Vuelta a España (August/September).
100°F is a little over 30°C, right? That's not uncommon in the summer in France or Spain. Nobody said it was everyday, Ol' Wanderer specifically mentioned the Tour de France (Juli) and the Vuelta a España (August/September).
100 f is 38 celsius, thats not uncommon in France?? seriously? when in france temp is 38 celsius all summer? i live in Buenos Aires, thats way waaaaay hotter than France in summer and 100f arent even that common here!!!
Average high for the HOTTEST month in Paris is 24 celsius!!! and you are saying that is common to get to 38 celsius??? you know the difference between those temperatures?? (i think 24 celsius is around 74 farenheit or something so do the math)
38 celsius is not common in France AT ALL, its probably the single hottest temperature ever recorded there if it was!
100 f is 38 celsius, thats not uncommon in France?? seriously? when in france temp is 38 celsius all summer? i live in Buenos Aires, thats way waaaaay hotter than France in summer and 100f arent even that common here!!!
Who says it was all summer? There are days in France (esp. the South) that approach 100°F, maybe not exactly that but at least well over 30°C. And in Spain it's not at all uncommon to have temperatures between 30°C - 38°C in the summer. The main point is, people do work out and live regular lives at these temperatures (whether it's in Spain or Texas doesn't matter) and nobody in their right mind would like to walk around with exposed skin at 0°F (that's around -20°C using the formula above!) so they're not really useful for humans in that regard.
100 f is 38 celsius, thats not uncommon in France?? seriously? when in france temp is 38 celsius all summer? i live in Buenos Aires, thats way waaaaay hotter than France in summer and 100f arent even that common here!!!
Average high for the HOTTEST month in Paris is 24 celsius!!! and you are saying that is common to get to 38 celsius??? you know the difference between those temperatures?? (i think 24 celsius is around 74 farenheit or something so do the math)
38 celsius is not common in France AT ALL, its probably the single hottest temperature ever recorded there if it was!
Why are you getting so worked up over this? Paris is way in the North of France, that's not really a fair example for the whole country. Nobody mentioned anything about average temperature and I didn't say it was common in France (I said it was not uncommon, there's a difference). But if you want to believe that the French and Spanish are freezing their butts off in the summer, be my guest
I doubt 38°C is the hottest temperature ever recorded in France, we had that temperature (well, close to that) just last year here in the Netherlands. Believe it or not, but we don't all have to wear our gloves and scarves in the summer. South America isn't the only place in the world that gets a little sunshine in the summer
Edit: the average maximum temperatures in Madrid and Seville (which is not even the South of Spain) in Juli and August are 90°F and 95°F. Not too far off, is it? (source)
Last edited by LindavG; 01-18-2012 at 01:12 PM..
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