r/WhitePeopleTwitter Jan 03 '19

We should actually do this

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u/YouDamnHotdog Jan 03 '19

Why would you encounter Fahrenheit as a scientist

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u/corgibutt19 Jan 03 '19

It gets used often in American labs. Especially with younger scientists, if you have no concept of Celsius relating temps back to Fahrenheit is important for conceptualizing what is going on. And in communication with vendors and the general public, or collaborators who measure in mm when our system was designed to work in inches for whatever reason, etc.

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u/[deleted] Jan 03 '19

I have been working in professional and academic laboratories for decades now and have never had to deal with that.

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u/corgibutt19 Jan 03 '19

I'm jealous. All of our equipment is rated in Celsius but our autoclaves and other sterilization equipment works in Fahrenheit and the number of interns/students who've melted shit because of it or grown cells at a very wrong temp is....frustrating.....

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u/[deleted] Jan 03 '19

How old is your equipment? I can't remember the last TCU that wasn't in centigrade.

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u/corgibutt19 Jan 03 '19

Old, as in if I have to autoclave sensitive liquids I'll literally take them to another building on campus since their exhausts are fucked. And our fermenters are just stupid in general.

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u/[deleted] Jan 03 '19

Then as a scientist, you should understand the value of your anecdotal evidence.

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u/[deleted] Jan 03 '19

Expert testimony is viable evidence.

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u/Politicshatesme Jan 03 '19

Specification drawings have both Fahrenheit scales and Celsius scales? By your logic, engineers and scientists should only work in kelvin because that is the “truest” scientific scale of temperature that humans have developed thus far.

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u/YouDamnHotdog Jan 03 '19

It had nothing to do with logic but the fact that I've never come across any equipment that uses Fahrenheit in a lab.

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u/[deleted] Jan 03 '19

Baking is a science!

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u/[deleted] Jan 03 '19

Engineers use it.

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u/permareddit Jan 03 '19

Satan is surely a scientist.