arib: (Default)
arib ([personal profile] arib) wrote2004-01-15 10:32 am

Scientific pondering: Farenheit scale

I just recently found out why the Farenheit system is numbered the way it is.

Zero degrees farenheit is the temperature at which water will freeze no matter how much salt you add to it. In other words, if the temperature outside is zero degrees farenheit or lower, use sand for traction instead of salt to melt.

100 degrees Farenheit was meant to be human body temperature, but it was later corrected down to the modern 98.6 degrees.

So, I know you can make a scale of any size in between any two points, but why did Farenheit decide to use these two points?

[identity profile] qweeeejk.livejournal.com 2004-01-15 08:18 am (UTC)(link)
No offense, Ari, but I believe Cecil's version (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a891215.html). Cecil is always my explanation of first resort …

[identity profile] sarahgoose.livejournal.com 2004-01-15 08:33 am (UTC)(link)
that was awe-inspiring. seriously.

i still don't understand the systems for crap, but i do know that roughly 72 degrees F is roughly 20 degrees C.

Beyond that, I don't give a damn.

[identity profile] eleri.livejournal.com 2004-01-15 08:44 am (UTC)(link)
Blade just explained this to me the other day, and I completely forget what he said... I'll bug him about it.

[identity profile] ladyotterfae.livejournal.com 2004-01-15 11:27 am (UTC)(link)
beats the hell out of me..(pauses to read the linked article from earlier comment)..
but I know that 98.6 wasn't much of an improvement, whether it started at 100 or 96.

*sulks in the corner with her 97.2 base temperature*
by the time I'm at 98.6, I'm quite ill, thank you. try telling that to your average nurse..*grump*