Talk:2292: Thermometer

First non-Covid post other than April fools?162.158.107.167 23:04, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Since a fever is a common symptom of Covid-19, I'd say this is as much about Covid-19 as all the previous comics on the topic. Ianrbibtitlht (talk) 02:59, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

I'd disagree. Fevers aren't inherently related to COVID-19, and while it's certainly easy to draw a connection based on current events, at no point is the connection made explicit. 172.69.34.104 10:29, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

Seriously? Fever is associated with 88% of COVID-19 cases! I'd say that's inherently related, and I'm drawing a connection based on that fact. Ianrbibtitlht (talk) 12:59, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

A common practice in schools and the like prior to quarantine was temperature taking upon arrival. So it's like that this comic continues that to the home setting. 162.158.78.112 23:19, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

A pessimist would guess that this means someone in Randall's household has a fever. 108.162.219.52 23:26, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

> The Physician Ducks172.69.62.94 23:32, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Personally I'd welcome a home thermometer marked off in Kelvin, avois all the "twice as cold" sort of confusion you can get with an arbitrary zero as used in Celsius and Fahrenheit. 162.158.34.210 23:21, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

I might have enjoyed a "Degrees of Kevin Bacon" joke in this comic somewhere. :-) 172.69.68.143 23:42, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Double-plus-dissapointed we didn't get the Delisle measure referenced at all... 162.158.34.202 01:17, 11 April 2020 (UTC) ...and now added. It would be better in any Trivia section, but we don't have one so hoping it's no more out of place in the explanation as Fahrenheit. 162.158.34.202 02:02, 11 April 2020 (UTC) ...aaaand someone removed it (as pure trivia, of course), fair enough. Anticipated. Anyone still interested in what I put just needs to check this IP, at about this timestamp, in Page History, though, so not going to argue the point. 162.158.34.202 02:08, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

No temperature scale is defined using melting or boiling points of water anymore. Since 2019 Kelvin is defined via the Boltzmann constant, and all other temperature scales have been (re-)defined relative to the Kelvin scale for quite a while. --172.69.63.103 01:24, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

Randall forgot the Réaumur scale.162.158.123.97 03:00, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

I'm not sure why some people seem to look for any opportunity to take a dig at the US, but I removed the line in the explanation about US-based readers not being familiar with the Celsius temperature scale. I'm sure most Americans are familiar with it but prefer the Fahrenheit scale instead. I don't understand why anyone holds that against us. Ianrbibtitlht (talk) 03:04, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

Hey, let's assume good faith. Chances are, some rando just genuinely had no idea how that kind of stuff works here. 172.69.34.104 10:22, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

Regarding USA Fahrenheit and non-USA Celsius preference, I was in Niagra Falls a few years back, listening to a Canadian station on the radio (ok, more than a few years ago...) and the DJ gave a weather report, saying “The current temperature is 25 degrees, that’s 77 on the understandable scale.” 173.245.54.201 04:22, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

I guess if you wanted to use the Newton scale you'd need to have Newton's original "degrees of heat" measuring device. 108.162.250.67 04:31, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

Nitpicking alert : the correct writing is "kelvin", not "Kelvin".

100°F is "really hot"? Maybe on a stripper... 162.158.190.106 13:00, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

Randall, as a physicist, should know about the equipartition theorem. It states that all degrees of freedom will carry the same average amount of energy in thermal equilibrium, not only the translational kinetic ones (but also rotational, and potential energies). It is technically not false to exclude some of these, but an arbitrary choice. I guess he just wanted to include the terms “translational” and “kinetic” to make sure it sounds ridiculously over-specific (which works well).