Talk:1923: Felsius

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Revision as of 04:58, 3 December 2017 by TobyBartels (talk | contribs) (Multiple comments, but particularly about ammonium chloride.)
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Thanks who, at the same time as I, wrote the better explanation with formulae; you're welcome for the table (which, for my first attempt at a MediaWiki table, and in a big hurry to be first*, I think came out all right). ((*Go ahead and edit at will!)) --BigMal // 108.162.216.184 16:44, 1 December 2017 (UTC)

Seems like this is awfully relevant: https://xkcd.com/927/ -- Derek Antrican 108.162.246.23 16:54, 1 December 2017 (UTC)

You can't write formulas like that! °C is degree(s) Celsius, not the value of some temperature as measured in degrees Celsius. You should write something like [°C] or °C-1 instead (if we treat °C as an affine function mapping dimensionless values to temperatures). Or you can be explicit and say something like "x°F = ((x − 32) * 5 / 9)°C". --172.68.54.22 19:59, 1 December 2017 (UTC)

Fahrenheit contribution to the name is disproportionately small for an average of two scales. It should have been at least Falsius, with added punniness, or Fahlsius, to be more unique. -- Average Alex

It should be ‘Fahlsius’, or even ‘Fählsius’, but notice that the pronunciation will still be more or less like ‘Felsius’ and not like ‘Fall-sius’ (for the same reason that ‘Fahrenheit’ or ‘Fährenheit’ is pronounced more or less like ‘Fair-enheit’ and not like ‘Far-enheit’. —TobyBartels (talk) 04:58, 3 December 2017 (UTC)

I'm obliged to share https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=227Hdz8VFKo. As a pedant, I have to point out that water's melting and boiling point aren't quite at 0 °C and 100 °C (and that Celsius originally had it backwards). And I *do* like "Falsius". Fluppeteer (talk) 21:19, 1 December 2017 (UTC)

Watchout for Felsius/Celsius or Felsius/Fahrenheit hybrids: https://xkcd.com/419/ WhiteDragon (talk) 22:20, 1 December 2017 (UTC)

What is an "epislon"? 162.158.88.170 23:02, 1 December 2017 (UTC)

A Greek letter; follow the link where the word first appears in the explanation. —TobyBartels (talk) 04:58, 3 December 2017 (UTC)

I think the Ukranian Ye (Є) would be closer, visually speaking.162.158.186.42 23:40, 1 December 2017 (UTC)

  • Or the mathematical symbol ⋲ (ELEMENT OF WITH LONG HORIZONTAL STROKE) or C̶ (LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C + COMBINING LONG STROKE OVERLAY)? Or ℃̶ (DEGREE CELSIUS + COMBINING LONG STROKE OVERLAY)? Sabik (talk) 11:36, 2 December 2017 (UTC)
    Yes, ELEMENT OF WITH LONG HORIZONTAL STROKE seems exactly right (not only by look, but also since ELEMENT OF is basically a lunate Epsilon already and changing the HORIZONTAL STROKE so that it is LONG is precisely the modification WITH which it needs to be equipped), and I think that we should switch to this immediately! —TobyBartels (talk) 04:58, 3 December 2017 (UTC)

Apparantly someone needs to be taught about the Rømer scale that is the ancestor of both Celcius and Fahrenhet. It has fixed constants for all three of water boiling, freezing and the temperature of brine.162.158.202.226 23:06, 2 December 2017 (UTC)

I remove the reference to ammonium chloride from the temperature table because, while it is cool (both figuratively and literally), it's also obsolete: in the modern Fahrenheit scale, this happens at 4°F, not at 0°F. (See the table at Frigorific mixture.) —TobyBartels (talk) 04:58, 3 December 2017 (UTC)