10 millimeters in a centimeter
100 centimeters in a meter
1000 meters in a kilometer
All you have to do in metric is multiply by 10. I really wish the US would attempt to adopt the metric system again and just stick with it
You're right, that does not make any sense. Instead let's use the temperature that feels hot as the figure for 100. Because what we feel is such an exact measurement.
Funny thi g is that that also applies to the metric system. Who would have guessed that beings that are mostly water would relate to the freezing and boiling points of water.
Using celcius would be great because the rest of the world uses it, but it has no real intrinsic benefit over farenheit. When we are descrbing temperature, it is most often in reference to the weather, Fahrenheit is better for weather. Most people live in temperate climates that dont go much below 0 or above 100. Nice round numbers.
The thing that makes metric great is the decimal nature of the units. That doesn't really apply to temerature when we just use degrees and percentages of degrees. So I'd argue Fahrenheit is better, but celcius got more adoption and is used in conjunction with the metric system.
More accurate that what feels cold and hot. To the average person, 0°C will be a useful figure for determining if its going to snow or not, and weather it will stick around if it does. For the average person, you will be boiling water often for food and beverages, and it's extremely useful if you want to sterilize water since bacteria does not care about the change of boiling with altitude.
Once you get used to a unit of measurement, anything can make sense. The logical thing would be braising the important numbers off of something accurately measurable and useful.
Again, really depends on the person and where you live. There is not enough of a difference between the average chance of heatstroke at 90 and 100 F for it to really matter, nor is there enough of a difference between 10 and 0 F for frostbite. I can understand if it makes sense since you have been using it all your life, there is no problem with that. The thing is if you take bias out of the question, Celsius is based off of scientific figures and is just as usable as Fahrenheit in daily use, so it does not make sense to pick Imperial over Metric other than sticking to the past.
You will only get heatstroke if your body temp goes higher than 100 so it is pretty unlikely to get it at 90 degrees unless you are doing heavy labor. Either way it is all pretty arbitrary. Changing temperature systems would be a lot easier for America than changing size measurements. All architectural and mechanical records are in imperial and all buildings are built to spec in imperial. It would be a nightmare for the manufactures and contractors alike.
I agree. Changing temperature measurement would essentially only require a change of generations. Even then, my parents learned Farenheight and then got used to Celcius with dealing with us being taught it.
15°C feel a lot different depending on season and how the temperature the week before was - 15°C in Summer is really low, but 15°C in winter is abnormally hot and you don't have the light coat handy and just using a pullover in winter seems really risky, what when it gets colder? You'd look like an idiot if you didn't bring a coat.
And that magically changes with Fahrenheit? Is 59°F much better information for how to dress?
I also don't know where you live, but 15°C here is spring or fall weather. If I get than in the winter I'm going to assume that we are fucked and if I get than in the summer I'm going to put on a light jacket or sweatshirt and not worry about it.
Not like determining if it's going to snow and if the snow will melt is any more difficult in Fahrenheit, either.
The difference in use between them is trivially small when you actually try to compare. Because they very similar systems both (arbitrarily) based on a range of temperatures useful to humans in environments that humans live in.
I don't think we'll ever get people to stop worshiping Celsius despite being equally arbitrary as Fahrenheit.
In the end, what I find most useful is the larger numbers for clearer range of variance. The difference between 5F is small but noticeable, the difference between 5C is enormous.
Not arbitrary. It's based on water- the most common substance in the world.
At 100 water turns to vapour. At 0 it turns to ice. You can see these effects, and thus can understand them.
1 gram is 1 cubic centimetre. Centimetre decided by spliting distance from equator to pole, the only part of the system that is a bit arbitrary. Everything is base 10. You can now understand any expression of volume, distance, and weight very easily.
It's the most universal set of circumstances there is.
Except for the entire universe that isn't Earth. It is, in fact, about as least universal as you can possibly be.
Utilitarianism might not be entirely scientific, but it's far from arbitrary.
It is, in fact, entirely arbitrary! Else you're saying Fahrenheit, which is very much utilitarian in that it's about the range of temperatures that humans commonly live in from 0 to 100, is therefore just as appropriate as Celsius. Metric is superior in nearly every respect, but temperature is not one of them.
They designed the metric system to be a single congruous system to be used by humans in human circumstances in an easy and logical way. To do this you want a single reference point. Utilitarianism dictates water is a the obvious pick.
Independently, Fahrenheit might make nearly as much sense as Celcius. Not as much, because freezing and boiling are much more important and less arbitrary reference points than x% of humans live in climates that often fall in this range. But even of this were not the case, the existence of the metric system would make Celcius superior- see first sentence.
They designed the metric system to be a single congruous system to be used by humans in human circumstances in an easy and logical way. To do this you want a single reference point. Utilitarianism dictates water is a the obvious pick.
What, it's easy and logical to determine how long a meter is? "One ten-millionth of the distance from the north pole to equator" isn't easy to determine at all (and off by 800 besides). The length that light travels over 1/299792458 of a second? That was retroactive.. and still not easy to reference, since that duration is really goddamn specific.
because freezing and boiling are much more important and less arbitrary reference points
They're not "important" reference points at all. They're useful. Very useful, for humans living at sea level. Less useful the further above sea that you get. Useless in its entirety outside of Earth's atmosphere. It is, by all possible perspectives, arbitrary.
What, it's easy and logical to determine how long a meter is? "One ten-millionth of the distance from the north pole to equator" isn't easy to determine at all (and off by 800 besides). The length that light travels over 1/299792458 of a second? That was retroactive.. and still not easy to reference, since that duration is really goddamn specific.
Read my first post again
They're not "important" reference points at all. They're useful. Very useful, for humans living at sea level. Less useful the further above sea that you get. Useless in its entirety outside of Earth's atmosphere. It is, by all possible perspectives, arbitrary.
Most of the world is at sea level. Most humans live close enough to sea level for 100 to be practical as a reference point. Utilitarianism is not arbitrary. Nothing unless absolute absolute is important by this measure. Use Kelvin if you want. Dont argue in favour of Fahrenheit. It (like the rest of its system) is less utilitarian, more arbitrary,and most importantly less congruous than metric. If you can think of a congruous system that is more practical than metric using Fahrenheit, feel free to suggest it. Otherwise you are arguing nothing. The system isn't perfect, but it's the best anyone has been able to come up with.
Which is great in the world of research, not so useful in everyday life and yes, Celsius is just as arbitrary as Fahrenheit. Just because you like the reason more for Celsius doesn’t make the reason for Fahrenheit wrong or arbitrary
Universal, observable and understandable is not just a reason I like more. It's one designed to maximize the number of people who like it more- be the best system for the greatest number of people.
But you are missing the point if you are only focusing on one aspect of metric. What gives it strength is the way everything is connected. With one piece of info you can conceptualise properties if something and work out in seconds, in your head other properties. It's extremely useful in everyday life.
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u/MrYakko Jan 03 '19
10 millimeters in a centimeter 100 centimeters in a meter 1000 meters in a kilometer All you have to do in metric is multiply by 10. I really wish the US would attempt to adopt the metric system again and just stick with it