this post was submitted on 18 Nov 2023
898 points (94.6% liked)

Science Memes

11189 readers
2266 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

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

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

Research Committee

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]
[email protected]
[email protected]
898
AAAAtoms (mander.xyz)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
93 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Fahrenheit was not an entirely arbitrary choice: it was defined based on two points of reference that could be measured at the time: the freezing temperature of an ammonium chloride brine is used as 0, and the best estimate for the average human body temperature is set at 96.

Over time, as the freezing point and boiling point of water at sea level atmospheric pressure proves to be more accurate reference points, the Fahrenheit scale was adjusted to provide exact conversion to Celsius.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

...96? How is 96 a point of reference when you are making a scale from scratch?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I think it's because 96 is divisible by 3.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

96 is divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

100 is divisible by 5, so what's your point?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Easier to subdivide a physically measured scale when the reverence is divisible by multiple values to choose from...

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Are you telling me they were able to measure those things, but not the boiling and freezing point of water?

Sure, let me just whip up that ammonium chloride mixture and travel somewhere where I can get it close to freezing so I can know the zero reference of that scale. What, did the just carry that NH₄Cl around for convenience?

Fahrenheit was proposed in 1724, Celsius dates back to 1742, so there wasn't that much time between the two.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Boiling point of water varies based on atmospheric pressure, water boils at a lower temperature high up in the mountains, for example, which could be why the estimated human body temperature is set as a standard, because it is consistent to reproduce as long as there are people around.

The freezing point of water is not affected by atmospheric pressure, however, it is affected by dissolved material in the water. Using a saturate solution of a salt would establish that consistency as well as lower the freezing point to create a bigger temperature range.

[–] Pok 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Does ammonium chloride brine not freeze at different pressures?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

A bit of mistake I made there, I should say that the freezing point is relatively unaffected by pressure compared to the boiling point, and the amount of dissolved impurities are going to have a greater effect.