this post was submitted on 06 May 2025
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[–] blitzen@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 months ago (6 children)

K is however a more annoying scale to use for normal/human temps

C is just K with zero set at “it feels moderately cold.”

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 months ago (5 children)

The definition of C has nothing to do with feelings.

[–] PhilipTheBucket@ponder.cat -4 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Yes it does.

Fahrenheit decided that we should use a scale based on what humans feel like is the full range of sensible temperatures, with that range set to 0 through 100.

Celsius decided that we should use a scale based on what liquid water feels like is the full range of sensible temperatures, with that range set to 0 through 100.

Kelvin decided that we should use a scale based on what atoms feel like is the the full range of sensible temperatures, with that range set to 0 through NaN (exception thrown).

So, chemists the world over like to use one of a couple of different scales depending on whether they are primarily concerned with the world defined by water, or the world defined by atoms, because it's convenient to use scales that are generally aligned with the feelings and behaviors of the entities you are concerned with.

And then sometimes humans come into the room, and say hey those are cool but also I'd like to use a scale that is generally aligned with the feelings and behaviors of humans, and for some reason everyone in this thread falls down on the ground and starts screaming and wailing, saying they are wrong and stupid for wanting to do that.

[–] heftig@beehaw.org 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Kelvin decided that we should use a scale based on what atoms feel like is the the full range of sensible temperatures, with that range set to 0 through NaN (exception thrown).

There's actually a theoretical maximum temperature.

The mathematically perfect scale goes from zero to one T~P~.

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