this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2024
556 points (98.8% liked)

xkcd

8962 readers
41 users here now

A community for a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

In my new scale, °X, 0 is Earths' record lowest surface temperature, 50 is the global average, and 100 is the record highest, with a linear scale between each point and adjustment every year as needed.

https://explainxkcd.com/3001/

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] ikidd 12 points 1 month ago

I think a degree F was 1/10,000 of the volume of mercury he happened to use in his first thermometer. The 180 was probably a coincidence because bimetal spring thermometers came along later.