this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2024
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Science Memes

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submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 weeks 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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

What makes Kelvin absolute, and why is Celsius "wobbly"?

I failed physics in high school

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

0 K is like when there is 0 heat basically, while celsius isn't. Imagine a unit for distance called "goob" where 0 goobs is 100 m and 1 goob is 115 m. In that case the goob unit would behave differently than a meter when you multiply and divide because 0 of the units don't actually correspond to "nothing" in a physical sense. That's exactly how the Celsius scale is, with zero being placed somewhere arbitrarily, not at a physical zero.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

i feel like i need more goob in my life. do you sell rulers?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

Bit of an awkward scale for a ruler, but I can sell you one from -6.6666666.... to -6.65 goobs.

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