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0 pointsjohnnyanmac2mo ago0 comments

>Pinning 100 at the boiling point of pure water at standard atmospheric pressure is every bit as arbitrary as Fs original 100F pin to the internal body temperature of a horse.

I mean, every unit is arbiturary. But we need to pick something.

I don't have any love for either, but F is the easiest to pick fun at when none of the standard temperatures make any sense. 32 for freezing water, 212 for boiing, 98.6 for human temperature? The 0 and 100 scale were based on the freezing point of some particular saltwater mixture and 90 degrees for human body temperature (which was corrected and then the scale updated to get to the modern temperature).

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BugsJustFindMe2mo ago

> none of the standard temperatures make any sense. 32 for freezing water, 212 for boiling, 98.6 for human temperature?

None of those attributes matter much. F is great for talking about the weather in the US, where 0 to 100 is approximately the experienced range through the year. You don't need to know the exact boiling or freezing points of water to know how cold or hot you'll be each day.

cogman102mo ago

100 was the internal body temperature of a horse. The thought for both the brine and horse was that both were more stable temperatures than something like a human and pure water.

As you can imagine, it was harder to obtain pure water and back then they noticed water freezing at various temperatures.

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