Science Memes

11399 readers

558 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.

Rules

Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
Keep it rooted (on topic).
No spam.
Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.

Research Committee

[email protected]

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

751

Half as Hot (mander.xyz)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

109 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago (14 children)

In short, you don't want to use a temperature scale with an arbitrary starting point for doing calculations like this. The freezing point of water is no more or less arbitrary than the freezing point of oxygen or sodium or anything else. It's just one that's somewhat useful for everyday use. When handling calculations for multiplying temperature, you want an absolute scale like Kelvin.

Or Rankine if you're that kind of pervert.

[–] yetiftw -4 points 1 month ago (9 children)

absolute scales are still arbitrary. you would probably want to use a scale that measures "perceived heat" which is different than average kinetic energy

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (8 children)

Kelvin is just our word for it, but that is the point of “no heat”. It isn’t arbitrary, there is no “negative kelvin” just like you cannot make something colder than absolute zero.

So if you take the difference between “coldest possible temp” and “average summer temp”, then slice it in half, you’re getting temperatures that would kill most life on earth.

[–] yetiftw 0 points 1 month ago (2 children)

just because it has a reason doesn't make it not arbitrary. you can ultimately come up with a reason for all arbitrary decisions

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Is there a way to distinguish between arbitrary and non-arbitrary? Or is literally everything ever arbitrary?

[–] yetiftw 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

literally every definition ever is arbitrary

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Then what's the point of even calling it arbitrary? If it covers everything, then there's no reason for the word.

[–] yetiftw 1 points 1 month ago

that's not true. there are things that are not definitions. like my bed for instance, there are aspects that are arbitrary (my personal preferences, design choices, etc) and aspects that are not arbitrary (its physical form that exists beyond definition)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Do you not understand what the word arbitrary means?…

[–] yetiftw 1 points 1 month ago

maybe you're the one who doesn't understand the ramifications of its meaning

load more comments (5 replies)

load more comments (9 replies)