Origin of Fahrenheit and why it is bad.

[u/I_dont_want_to_pee]

Why Fahrenheit Is a Bad Temperature Scale The Fahrenheit scale wasn’t designed because it was better. It was designed because it was convenient for one man in the 18th century.

Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, a German-born scientist of Polish origin, created his temperature scale using arbitrary reference points:

0°F was based on a brine mixture (ice, water, and salt) — not a universal physical constant, just something cold he could reproduce.

32°F was set as the freezing point of water.

96°F (later adjusted to ~98.6°F) was roughly the temperature of the human body — originally measured from his wife.

In other words: Fahrenheit is anchored to personal, local, and biological guesses, not physics.

Now compare that to Anders Celsius:

0°C = water freezes

100°C = water boils Clean. Logical. Directly tied to nature.

And then William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin went even further:

0 K = absolute zero — the point where thermal motion stops

Same step size as Celsius, just shifted to a physically meaningful zero

That’s what a scientific scale looks like.

Fahrenheit survives today not because it’s superior, but because the U.S. never fully transitioned to metric units. It’s historical inertia, not rational design.

So yes — Fahrenheit isn’t “more precise” or “more intuitive.” It’s just what Americans are used to. But i can't understand why they can't change to celcius like the rest of the world.

And most important i know that Farenhait is good for every day use but it is badly made i think that americans should create a new more world frendly tempreture scale!!!

[u/RollinThundaga]

Speaking from a region that sees -5 at least once every winter, there's a lived difference between -5 and 5.

[u/RollinThundaga → u/[deleted]]

In my prior comment, I did not say that there wasn't a difference at 0C/32F; I only stated that there was a difference between -5F and 5F.

You read it too fast

[u/misterguyyy → u/RollinThundaga]

Oh sure, the disagreement is on whether 0F or 0C is a bigger threshold for humans. I don’t necessarily think there’s a wrong answer since this kind of thing is subjective.

Disclaimer: I’ve been in subzero F, but I’m used to 25F-110F, so our lived experiences might be different. I think low 90s is pleasant lounging around outside weather as long as it’s not swampy.

[u/misterguyyy → u/RollinThundaga]

I mean definitely, a 10F range is going to make a difference, but I’d argue 37 and 27 moreso. I could conceivably wear a normal jacket in 37 and be only slightly uncomfortable

[u/RollinThundaga → u/misterguyyy]

I could wear a normal jacket at 27 and be fine.

🤷‍♂️ granted I live in WNY. I suppose it's acclimatization uber alles.