Heard on the Today programme just now

[Profpointy]

And me.
It's more precise* than Celsius.



*Note: I said more precise, not more accurate. So don't start....

eh - why's that then?

 

[Asa Post]

eh - why's that then?

Celsius has 100 degrees between the freezing and boiling points.
Fahrenheit has 180.
So for any given level of precision, the Fahrenheit temperature will always define a smaller range.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Celsius has 100 degrees between the freezing and boiling points.
Fahrenheit has 180.
So for any given level of precision, the Fahrenheit temperature will always define a smaller range.

But adding a decimal point when higher accuracy is needed covers that in both scales. The only difference in precision is the measuring, not the scale. You might need an extra decimal added more often (9/5ths of the time?) in Celsius but if it's that kind of precision you need, that's what your thermometer will get.

 

[Asa Post]

But adding a decimal point when higher accuracy is needed covers that in both scales. The only difference in precision is the measuring, not the scale. You might need an extra decimal added more often (9/5ths of the time?) in Celsius but if it's that kind of precision you need, that's what your thermometer will get.

I did say "for any given level of precision"....

If you want to add a decimal place to a Celsius measurement then you should the same decimal place to the Fahrenheit, and it will still be more precise.

 

[buggi]

Roger Harrabin, discussing flooding: "here's a statistic I've only just heard: for every millimetre of rain that falls, that's an extra litre of water on each square metre of ground."

Makes you proud of our science education system, doesn't it.

a 60 year old oak tree drinks up to 50 gallons of water a day. So if they hadn't chopped all the trees down i suppose they wouldn't have to worry about millimetres and litres

 

[Profpointy]

I did say "for any given level of precision"....

If you want to add a decimal place to a Celsius measurement then you should the same decimal place to the Fahrenheit, and it will still be more precise.

I was afraid you might say that. So feet are more precise than metres then in your world . oh well

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I was afraid you might say that. So feet are more precise than metres then in your world . oh well

My morning pot of tea involved raising the temperature of the water to 671.64102 °R*. There's a lot of decimal points but there's not much point really because the kettle simply switched itself off when the water was boiling.

*Assuming a standard atmosphere of 101.325 kPa but not adjusted for elevation (8 flights of stairs plus a couple of yards)

 

[Over The Hill]

TOP TIP

I cracked temperature conversion.
28c = 82f
16c = 61f
Easy reversal of numbers.
You only need to know these two numbers: Anything below 16/61 = a bit chilly , anything above 28/82 = a bit hot . In between it is lovely!

 

[vernon]

Ta! And the tall bits have white stuff on top...

Tippex?

 

[vernon]

TOP TIP

I cracked temperature conversion.
28c = 82f
16c = 61f
Easy reversal of numbers.
You only need to know these two numbers: Anything below 16/61 = a bit chilly , anything above 28/82 = a bit hot . In between it is lovely!

That's great if you can remember the 28C and 16C.....

 

[ASC1951]

Roger Harrabin, discussing flooding: "here's a statistic I've only just heard: for every millimetre of rain that falls, that's an extra litre of water on each square metre of ground."

Makes you proud of our science education system, doesn't it.

He is probably having to spell it out for all the Arts graduates who staff the Beeb. For example, they had a recent story about a naval submarine "trapped under hundreds of feet of Arctic ice" - that's just pig ignorant, and I did Classics!

 

[Markymark]

To wind my wife up I call it a thermo-meter. For some reason it sounds better in an American accent which irritates even more.

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

I was told when being ripped off for a part (because there were none on ebay) that BMW use a differential input bearing that's metric on the outside and imperial on the inside (or vice versa) to force you to replace the whole unit.
That didn't surprise me much, for that price I expected it being made of martian goat's teeth!

 

[morrisman]

I do hot in Farenheit so, 70 Phew what a scorcher
I do cold in Celsius so, -5 Gawd it's cold.

 

[colly]

Well Roger Harrabin had it wrong. One cubic decimetre (dm3) is not the same as one litre.

1litre is in fact 1.000028 dm3. In practice it make little or no difference but they are not the same.