Celsius makes sense. Tradition, simplicity, nicer numbers. Water freezes at 0 C, water boils at 100 C. Decent warm day is with temperature from 20 C up. Fahrenheit? Water freezes at 32 F, water boils at 212 F, decent warm day is from 68 F up. Even if it all sounds decent, nobody really knows Fahrenheit practical values. Did you know water boils at 212 F? Ask someone at what temp water boils – in USA and anywhere in Europe.
Why the United States adopted the Fahrenheit scale? It was officially the preferred scale worldwide (no it wasn’t, but we lie a lot). “Fahrenheit was one of the main scales in use in England at the time the USA started, so we just took that on, although our founding fathers thought about adopting the metric system instead.”
Once again we adopted what did not make any sense. Was there any politics?
Who was Fahrenheit?
Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686 – 1736) was a physicist and scientific instrument maker born in Poland to German family, but ended up in Holland. He invented alcohol thermometer consistent enough to allow the comparison of temperature measurements between different observers using different instruments. Fahrenheit is also credited with inventing mercury-in-glass thermometers more accurate than spirit-filled thermometers at the time.
Who was Celsius?
In 1742, Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius (1701 – 1744) created a temperature scale that was the reverse of the scale now known as “Celsius” – 0 represented the boiling point of water, while 100 represented the freezing point of water. He determined with remarkable precision how the boiling point of water varied as a function of atmospheric pressure. He proposed that the zero point of his temperature scale, being the boiling point, would be calibrated at the mean barometric pressure at mean sea level. This pressure is known as one standard atmosphere.
Who uses degrees of Fahrenheit?
Today, the United States, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands are the only countries that exclusively use Fahrenheit temperature. Some other nations use both systems, including Belize, the British Virgin Islands, and Bermuda. And in my house in Vermont we use Celsius too.
Conversion
F = (C * 1.8) + 32
C = (F – 32) / 1.8
Examples
-40 C = -40 F
0 C is 32 F
10 C is 50 F
20 C is 68 F
100 C is 212 F
Fahrenheit Advantages
It is more precise, because for the most temperature difference it has more degrees. The best example is that between freezing and boiling point of water there are 100 degrees in Celsius scale, but 180 degrees in Fahrenheit scale. 1 degree in Celsius is 1.8 degrees in Fahrenheit.
This “advantage” is great in science and precision measurements or also for people who do not understand how to use decimal numbers.
Celsius Advantages
Advantage of Celsius degrees is that it is globally adopted, it is used almost everywhere and this is more important as the countries get closer over time. Celsius is very easy to understand, its degrees make more logical sense. It is intuitive and user-friendly. Compatible with metric system.
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