# What's the point of Celsius? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 20, 2005, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-celsius/331987 "2005-11-20T22:11:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2005, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-celsius/331987/121 "2005-11-22T19:43:07Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Water meters are most likely by the cubic foot. If they charged me by the gallon, or liter, or hogshead, I imagine it would work just as easily as cubic feet, just with different numbers. I don’t see any particular value in knowing how many pounds/kgs of water I’ve used in a month, do you? No, but it was easy math when I had a waterbed. So the amount of water is of interest to you and you use cubic foot. Why not gallons? Anyway. I popped in with the question, because a metric raised kid as myself, knows that a cubic decimeter (10x10x10 cm) equals one liter equals one kg (if the temperature and elevation above sealevel is right, for scientific purposes, for everyday use - it’s close enough). It’s just not the conversion on a base of ten between meters and kilometers by addng zeros that is easy, converting between different properties is easy too. Now, when the water bill comes in the mailbox, it won’t matter the least if it’s in metric-majingies or measurement defined [how many leaking buckets of water a 75 year old widow could carry up an icy slope in January in an hour] in some other way. Just pay the bill. Anyway, my question was just idle curiousity. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2005, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-celsius/331987/122 "2005-11-22T21:18:51Z")
> [@](#): > > Here’s a simply way for Americans to figure out Celsius for weather purposes. > > We have to remember just 3 pairs of numbers. (I’m assuming that most already know 0 C. = 32 F.) I think that this is exactly the wrong approach. Whenever humans deal with temperatures, we already have to do one conversion. The temperature system we actually use is based on increments like “Nice day”, “Better wear a jacket”, “A bit on the hot side”, or “Too damn cold”. Whenever we see a temperature quoted in some sort of numbers, we have to convert it to that personal scale (which will, of course, vary from person to person, but each person has such a scale). One can, say, convert Celsius to Farenheit, and then convert the Farenheit to “Better wear a jacket”, but it’s much easier to just make one conversion and be done with it, directly from whatever the thermometer is reading to the personal scale. The earlier-quoted weatherman’s rhyme is much more useful, I think > [@](#): > > Zero is freezing > Ten is not. > Twenty is pleasing > Thirty is hot. ---
**Author:** ![matt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@matt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2005, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-celsius/331987/123 "2005-11-23T11:47:42Z")
> [@The Gaspode](#): > > How much does a cubic yard of water weigh? 764.555 kg. Doesn’t get better if you turn it into pounds, either! An old Imperial Gallon of water weighs ten pounds, about the only useful weight-volume relationship in the Imperial system. Not sure why the USA adopted smaller gallons and pints. ---
**Author:** ![Pedro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@Pedro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pedro)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2005, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-celsius/331987/124 "2005-11-23T12:45:39Z")
Regarding the resolution of temperature scales, both my room AC and my car AC have .5 degree Celsius increments and it really annoys me. I don’t need so much precision, it’s an inconvenience to me, I can’t even feel the difference, every time I want to adjust the temperature I just press the button twice for 1 degree Celsius increments without even thinking about it. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2005, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-celsius/331987/125 "2005-11-23T12:57:18Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > So there’s nothing special about 100oF… except that this is the point above which danger starts? That _is_ something special. And there is no truth to the claim. If you had to pick a temperature at which danger started than 92oC would probably be more appropriate. And even then it’s not true to say that temperatures above that are always dangerous. > [@](#): > > Once more, can we have the reference that allows you to make such a claim in reposnse to a request for a factual answer? > [@](#): > > The easiest way to resolve this is for you to produce references for that claim. That way we can see whether it really is a factual repsonse, or merely Your Baseless Opinion, and perhaps best suited to other fora. First, let me say that this is one of the stupider hijacks I’ve seen. I’ve already admitted that I chose 100 F arbitrarily, and yet you continue to harp on the subject. You’re just being quarrelsome. Anyway, let’s see what the authorities at the Grand Canyon have to say on [this subject.](http://www.nps.gov/grca/grandcanyon/dayhike/smart.htm) > [@](#): > > Rangers take heat exhausted hikers to the hospital every day during the summer. One of the most common heat exhausted patients is male and in his twenties. > [@](#): > > While many hikers have experience in the mountains, the inner canyon is a desert. The hot, dry environment and the hiker’s exertion combine to complicate the effects of fatigue. During the summer season when inner canyon temperatures routinely exceed 100°F (40°C), dehydration is common and can lead to heat exhaustion. More serious illnesses associated with desert hiking are heat exhaustion, hyponatremia, heatstroke, and hypothermia: the hazardous H’s! They seem to think that people have to be warned about the heat. The fact that some people are used to extremely hot weather is irrelevant. Most of us on this board aren’t, and have to modify our behavior to avoid getting into trouble because of it. ---
**Author:** ![Who\_me\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/958977/32.png) [@Who\_me\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Who_me_1)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2005, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-celsius/331987/126 "2005-11-23T13:40:17Z")
While Farenheit is intuitive to me, Celsius isn’t… all due to where I live. If I got the weather in Celsius for a while, I imagine that when I heard 30 degrees I’d think hot, not 2 degrees below the freezing point of water. All I want out of a temperature is to know whether I have to worry about ice on the road or whether to turn the AC on… either one can do that sufficiently well. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2005, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-celsius/331987/127 "2005-11-23T22:02:47Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The earlier-quoted weatherman’s rhyme is much more useful, I think If my memory is accurate (not from the actual conversion, mind, but a documentary) that fella was the late (and dearly missed) [Peter Gzowski](http://www.cbc.ca/news/obit/gzowski_peter/). Referring to him as a lowly weatherman is liable to earn you a shunning in most parts of Canada. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2005, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-celsius/331987/128 "2005-11-24T00:12:06Z")
Apologies for any slight, then. The first I’d heard that rhyme was **Hari Seldon** ’s post on the first page of this thread. All I know about the fellow is that he came up with a sensible way for people to acclimate to Celsius (and with a clever rhyme scheme, at that). ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2005, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-celsius/331987/129 "2005-11-24T00:51:03Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The first I’d heard that rhyme was **Hari Seldon** ’s post on the first page of this thread. _Naturellement._ That’s why I didn’t actually throw down the hockey glove, of course. If it had been intentional, it’d be war, though. Tunderin’ jaysus, boy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-point-of-celsius/331987.md?page=6)