# Chem/Phys/Eng Folk: EZ Units Question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chem-phys-eng-folk-ez-units-question/310745>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 1, 2005, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chem-phys-eng-folk-ez-units-question/310745 "2005-07-01T19:46:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chem-phys-eng-folk-ez-units-question/310745/1 "2005-07-01T19:46:48Z")

</div>

I am working with two constants, one has units of W/m^2-C and the other is W/m^2-K^4. This bugs me because K=C+273 as opposed to most other conversions…

Is there a way to find how to adjust W/m^2-C to W/m^2-K?  
It’s probably staring me in the face, but something about it bugs me…

Please help!

- Jinx

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chem-phys-eng-folk-ez-units-question/310745/2 "2005-07-01T19:48:17Z")

</div>

Maybe it’s as simple as just plugging in temp in Kelvin and simply change the C to a K so it reads m^2-K? …I’m going brain dead!

Please confirm!  
Thanks  
Jinx  
zzz…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chem-phys-eng-folk-ez-units-question/310745/3 "2005-07-01T20:38:17Z")

</div>

Ok, I’m chatting with myself here, but to correct myself, the above is simply wrong. However, to answer myself, ultimately I am plugging into a formula that uses dT, not just T, so dT in Celcius = dT in Kelvin, hence it won’t matter.

Thanks for your help, Jinx! 😉

- Jinx

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chem-phys-eng-folk-ez-units-question/310745/4 "2005-07-01T20:41:09Z")

</div>

I agree, K = C in this context. Which looks like a heat transfer coefficient “h”.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chem-phys-eng-folk-ez-units-question/310745/5 "2005-07-01T20:41:39Z")

</div>

It really depends on the formula. If the formula contains the difference in two temperatures then C and K are the same. Like say a heat flow formula. If it is instead a like PV=nRT then C and K are not the same.