Built like a Mercedes (?)

Many measures are determined by established use. Hence the continued use of
inches for wheels and tyres for cars. Also feet ( for altitude ) and knots (
for speed ) in aviation.

It doesn't *have* to make sense.

Graham

 

antiquated is if it's outlived it's usefulness. Can you give me any reason
at all why water freezes at 32F ? I think I do know why, but geeez 32?
Personally I thought 35.6 would have been better

I can see that! It's a lot smaller number my wife to a girl friend
and 'I' weigh 32 stone.... what do you weigh? 1000 newton? LOL

l'Hopital .... that's probably why he studied limits

Similarily as your

..... yeah, I agree ..... the french, go figure
Actually it's probably another of those DIN norms and no one will ever know
why since reasons for it buried deeeeeeeep in some buroucrats files .....
the germans, go figure

cheersm guenter

 

Well hell you also order meat at your friendly charcuterie in FRANCE of all

My French Michelin tires say "44 psi". Perhaps there is the metric
equivalent, 3837402 nanozetapascaloids or something but that's
the least used metric measurement I've seen here.

 

Modern folks often consider Daniel Fahrenheit's thermometer scale less
"logical" than Anders Celsius' scale in which the difference in
temperature between freezing and boiling water is set to 100 C.
Fahrenheit, in his older scale, originally set the difference between
freezing water and human body temperature equal to 64 F.

Why 64? Imagine making a thermometer: you fill the tube with your working
liquid (mercury, or in Fahrenheit's day alcohol). You put it one of your
references (say freezing water) and mark the level. Then you put it in
another (in your mouth, for Fahrenheit's scale) and mark the level again.
Now you need to divide the space between into equal divisions. If you have
to make 100 divisions, you need a precision steel ruler. But if you have
to make 64 divisions, you just need a compass and straightedge, because
you just need to divide the distance exactly in half 5 times (2^6 = 64).

Furthermore, Fahrenheit took advantage of an interesting coincidence to
set the freezing point of water at 32 F, and assign a third scale point,
the temperature of a stable mixture of ice, salt and water, to 0 F. Since
2^5 = 32, this distance, too, can be marked off very easily with compass
and straightedge.

Hence Fahrenheit's scale lent itself far easier to the manufacture of
accurate thermometers at a time when precision instruments were very
expensive.

The question is spurious. No matter how you express fuel economy, it is
worsened by time when the engine is running and the car is not moving.
This is reflected in the expression, whether it be mpg, l/100km, km/l, or
whatever. There's no particular advantage to fixing the distance (as in
l/100km) over fixing the fuel volume (as in mpg), but neither is there an
advantage the other way.

 

Err, he couldn't use both of those at the same time if he wanted a
linear scale. In the scale where body temperature = 64 and freezing
water = 32, freezing saturated brine = 20.

It appears that in his final scale, he used 0, 32, and 96 as his fixed
points.

http://www.sizes.com/units/temperature_Fahrenheit.htm purportes to
quote original sources.

 

I'm 30.

The same thing here in Canada (highways signed in km and speedometers in
km/h, not "kph"), but it works this way in mph, too: Speed limit 65mph,
you drive 65mph, so something 65 miles away will take 1 hr.

It's no easier or harder than mpg.

So, as I was saying...just *try* getting anything metric at Rona. No
metric hardware, no metric pipefittings or pipe, no metric terminals, no
metric lumber, no metric fluoro tubes...

DS

 

Because there was a particular salt solution that froze at 0, and
Fahrenheit figured that was as cold as anybody cared about.

The better question is why average body temperature is 98.6. It was
supposed to be 100. Nobody really knows whether he was running a
fever that day, or if he mis-measured.

 

That's an explanation I've never seen before, and makes 100 times more
sense than any explanation I ever have seen (including the one I
posted roughly 60 seconds ago). Do you have a cite for that? I'd
love to be able to claim that Fahrenheit was more logical than Celsius
(or any of the other centigrade systems) because it was based on
powers of two....

 

Bar is pretty well used and universally quoted in all car and machinery
manuals. Getting to use and understand its scale is just a matter of habit
as is human weight and fuel consumption.

Huw

 

I agree with the brine = 0 and body temp = 100F from what I've read.
I have never come across the freezing water = 32F point that you make.
However, I'm sure the computer types would love the argument re 2^6 = 64
'binary' divisions .... sounds like folklore started by computer departments
to me though ... admittedly nice strory though

cheers, guenter

 

"except", that most people here in Canada couldn't do the math fast
enough given that signage , highway and speedos, is in 'km'

cheers, guenter

 

Christ, but you're obtuse. The point is that there is no advantage to
having highways and speedometers in km/h over having highways and
speedometers in mph.

 

*shrug* You've never heard it, therefore it's untrue, eh? OK, ace. Let us
know when you've read some history.

 

I did late last night when I posted it -- not now, and I'm getting ready
for a vacation, so it'll have to wait til I come back!

 

Right. That's why body temperature is not 64.

 

It's *theoretically* infinite, but *practically* finite, because you do
not have an infinitely-capacious fuel tank. The problem does not exist.

The US has never used Imperial gallons. Guenter doesn't know what the hell
he's babbling about.

Is it easier to grab the next-bigger or next-smaller sized wrench when
your choices are 8mm, 9mm, 10mm, 11mm, 12mm, 13mm, etc? Of course.

Does it exercise your brain's "math muscle" to pick the next-bigger or
next-smaller sized wrench when your choices are 1/4", 9/32", 5/16",
11/32", 3/8", 13/32", 7/16", 1/2", etc? You bet. Is that a bad thing? I
don't think so.

 

A very good reason to celebrate not being French.
On the other hand, we also don't make headlamps worth crap, so maybe
that's what not eating snails costs.

 

geez, I know I should quit... BUT. The point 'IS' that calculating in 10's
or 100's is easier than .... to use YOUR example .... 65's. I do not know of
anywhere where the speed limit is 100mph. Calculating in 100's corresponds
simply to moving the decimal place rather than dividing by ... to use your
example .... 65. re obtuse .... pot, kettle, black.

cheers

 

My experience is that I've got the order memorized to the point that
neither one is easier. *Finding* a given combination wrench in their
box is a bigger pain than either.... At least my sockets are in order
on their rack.

 

Why not? According to this explanation, the difference between water
freezing and body temperature is twice the difference between the
brine solution and water freezing points; he's also got twice as many
degree marks between water freezing and body temperature as between
brine and water freezing. That's linear....