Celsius vs Fahrenheit

[Ram94]

Sparked my curiosity after reading the MIL vs MOA thread. Celsius to me makes so much more sense than Fahrenheit but it seems most Americans use the latter.

 

[bsnedeker]

Sparked my curiosity after reading the MIL vs MOA thread. Celsius to me makes so much more sense than Fahrenheit but it seems most Americans use the latter.

More precision with Fahrenheit for normal, everyday use. I'd rather move my thermostat from 71 to 72 degrees than 21.5 to 22 degrees.

Other than that doesn't make a lick of difference what units you are using. At the end of the day I don't live my life based on how far from the freezing/boiling point of water it currently is...I base my activities and clothing on how comfortable I will be in any given temperature.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using Tapatalk

 

[ODB]

F

It’s all what you grow up with.

32 degrees F and 212 degrees F sound stupid until you realize they are 180 degrees apart. You’ll note on a circle those two points are opposites, just like frozen and boiling.

 

[CorbLand]

Fahrenheit because its been to the moon and won two world wars.

 

[MattB]

I like the granularity of F.

Easy way to convert: take the Celsius temperature and double it, subtract 10%, and add 32.

If it is 20 C, double it (40), subtract 10% (4 —> 36) and add 32 (68 degrees F). Pretty simple.

That helped me respond quickly when my Canadian buddies get upset when it is 30, and I don’t intuitively know if that is cold or hot.

 

[cornfedkiller]

Definitely Fahrenheit, but thats because thats all I've ever known..

Out of curiosity for those that use Celsius - do you have to use decimals in your degrees all the time? For things such as what you keep your home temperatures at, checking for a fever, etc.. 1 degree difference in C is much bigger than 1 degree F. Or do you just not care and round stuff?

 

[bsnedeker]

Definitely Fahrenheit, but thats because thats all I've ever known..

Out of curiosity for those that use Celsius - do you have to use decimals in your degrees all the time? For things such as what you keep your home temperatures at, checking for a fever, etc.. 1 degree difference in C is much bigger than 1 degree F. Or do you just not care and round stuff?

Every thermostat I've ever used overseas uses .5 degree adjustments for C.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using Tapatalk

 

[Ram94]

More precision with Fahrenheit for normal, everyday use. I'd rather move my thermostat from 71 to 72 degrees than 21.5 to 22 degrees.

Other than that doesn't make a lick of difference what units you are using. At the end of the day I don't live my life based on how far from the freezing/boiling point of water it currently is...I base my activities and clothing on how comfortable I will be in any given temperature.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using Tapatalk

Fair.

In Canada we learn Celsius from day one and it just makes sense to me that freezing is 0 degrees. (We also spend more than half the year below freezing so there's that bias) having freezing at 32 degrees just seems strange and unnecessarily complicated. This thread is more proving a point that people use whichever measurement they are comfortable with and it really doesn't matter one bit or change any outcomes.

 

[Mighty Mouse]

Don't forget Rankine and Kelvin!

 

[mstei4]

Fair.

In Canada we learn Celsius from day one and it just makes sense to me that freezing is 0 degrees. (We also spend more than half the year below freezing so there's that bias) having freezing at 32 degrees just seems strange and unnecessarily complicated. This thread is more proving a point that people use whichever measurement they are comfortable with and it really doesn't matter one bit or change any outcomes.

The 32 degrees makes more sense looking at the history of the system. 0 F was where brine (or sea water) freezes. The upper reference point was based off of the average human body temperature (a couple different theories exist as to how this was determined). Then over time the entire system adjusted by roughly 4 degrees for some reason. The initial basis for the system was logical, just not based off of plain water like Celsius

 

[bobr1]

Don't forget Rankine and Kelvin!

Beat me to it. But to the OP's question for science, Celsius is much easier to work with, just like the metric system for measurements and calculations. Most thermo equations require Kelvin which is much easier to convert to with Celsius than dealing with Fahrenheit. But I'm also American, so on the fly fahrenheit is much easier to describe or understand for weather and cooking etc...

​

 

[Rob5589]

Fahrenheit

 

[307]

Metric is a much better system but I think in imperial units being a lifelong American, so that's easier for me.

 

[Wapiti1]

I'm working on a project with European companies. Metric is our chosen system. Which doesn't hurt my feelings. Imperial units confuse them waaaaaaaayyyyyy more than Metric confuses us. Honestly, metric doesn't confuse anyone here, other than visualizing the scale of something.

One of the buildings we are constructing is going to be 348,000 millimeters long. When the engineer you need to design something is native to metric, just accept it and don't court disaster with conversion errors.

Jeremy

 

[timmymac24]

I am 54 and still remember my elementary teachers pounding metrics on us telling us we had to know it because this country would be using it soon. This past year I spent a few days teaching 8th grade science students metrics. There's always someone who asks why we use metrics. It is easier for a kid to read a ruler in mm or cm. I would bet there aren't 10% of my kids that could read a tape measure to help their old man with a carpentry project. So down the road we go maybe someday it will be here but don't hold your breath. It will remain in the science curriculums though.

 

[Dinger]

Hang in there fellas!

 

[mlgc20]

Not sure it matters. I grew up learning in Fahrenheit. So, that’s what makes sense to me. I know what to wear at 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Have no idea what to wear at 10 degrees Celsius.

 

[bobr1]

 

[RS_Non-Res]

Fahrenheit, where 0 is cold, 100 is hot, and beyond either of those is inhumane.

 

[displacedtexan]

Fahrenheit because its been to the moon and won two world wars.

Only the Apollo program used the Metric system...