Celsius is more logical:
(1) the endpoints of Celsius are boiling/melting point of water (at standard atmospheric pressure). The lower endpoint of Fahrenheit is the lowest temperature Fahrenheit could achieve using a mixture of water, ice and ammonium chloride-using the freezing point of pure water is more logical than using the freezing point of an ammonium chloride solution-water is fundamental to all known life, ammonium chloride solutions don’t have the same significance (and why ammonium chloride instead of sodium chloride or potassium chloride? of the salts readily available to Fahrenheit, the ammonium chloride solution had the lowest freezing point)
(2) Fahrenheit initially put 90 degrees between his two “endpoints” (ammonium chloride solution freezing point and human body temperature), then he increased it to 96. Celsius having 100 degrees between its endpoints is more logical than 90 or 96
(3) while for both Celsius and Fahrenheit, there is error in the definition of their endpoints (the nominal values are different from the real values, because our ability to measure these things accurately was less developed when each scale was originally devised, and some unintentional error crept in)-the magnitude of that error is smaller for Celsius than for Fahrenheit
(4) nowadays, all temperature units are officially defined in terms of Kelvin - and Celsius has a simpler relation to Kelvin than Fahrenheit (purely additive versus requiring both addition and multiplication)
(5) Celsius is the global standard for everyday (non-scientific) applications, not Fahrenheit, and it is more logical to use the global standard than a rarely used alternative whose advantages are highly debatable at best
No, it is not. Americans say this only because they're used to it. The common arguments are that is that it is more precise, and 'you see temperatures from zero to one hundred degrees Fahrenheit throughout the year'.
Firstly, the problem with Fahrenheit is that its realisation is inaccurate by modern standards—which is why every single non-SI unit is now just an exact multiple of a corresponding SI unit with the same dimensions; the mediaeval and early modern definitions having been entirely forgotten. A bowl of salted ice and his own armpit? Truly an 18th-century invention.
Next, the extra precision that a difference of one degree Fahrenheit gives you is frankly useless. Within a single room one can experience a difference of over five degrees Celsius or more, depending on what's in the room—a radiator or air conditioner running, or the gas stove in a kitchen, or a high-end PC. Forget rooms. On the human body itself there can be a two to three degree Celsius difference between the extremities and the thorax/torso/head. Any field that requires extreme precision will naturally end up using SI units, so kelvin (or some related scientific unit). (Excluding the absolutely crazy bunch of American machinists who like using thousandths and ten-thousandths of an inch—at this point the joke writes itself).
As for climates, there are places that see very little difference in temperature, and definitely not the 'nice 0 – 100' range that Americans claim. Even in the US there are places like southern Louisiana and Florida that have borderline tropical climates, and don't really go below ~15 °C or above 35 °C.
All of this is not really logical either, and all end up being a manifestation of familiarity.
I’ve grown up with Celsius and never felt the need to use decimals in day to day weather discussion… Many air conditioners let you go up by half a degree C and that’s more than enough precision, more than I’ve ever felt was necessary in everyday conversation.
Again, not saying F is great, just that that one minor advantage is in fact real.
Countries that use Imperial for day to day use still do tend to use metric for a lot of purposes including many engineering tasks. (Imperial is terrible for certain types of engineering calculations--especially involving pounds and lets not get into slugs--but it's fine for cooking even if I tend to use grams for weight on my scale when baking.)
"Imperial countries" are actually pretty hybrid for the most part to greater or lesser degrees. UK is more SI than the US but they still commonly use a lot of Imperial units including some "odd" stuff like stones.
Informal measurement of humans and beer is a nice quirk of the UK system, but in my experience it's not commonplace to use imperial units for anything where accuracy is important (except maybe jewellers, and arguably road speeds/distances).
See also, the monstrosity that is AWG: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wire_gauge
That's not really the point.
0° F: It's cold outside. 100° F: It's hot outside.
0° C: It's cold outside but not really that cold. 100° C: Dead.
0 K: Dead. 100 K: Dead.
These things are the case for humans regardless of whether you live in a place that actually gets cold or hot outside.
> These things are the case for humans
Who says so?
0 °C is very cold by many people's standards. About half the human population lives within the tropics. In fact I'd like to see Americans walk around in the UK wearing just a T-shirt and bermudas when it's barely above freezing, and insist 'it's not really that cold, it's only 32 °F'.
The point is that F degrees seems a pretty human scale that doesn't usually need a lot of decimals or minus signs for routine purposes. That it doesn't correspond to a couple of water transitions at standard pressure/temperature is sort of irrelevant. Of course, I and many other people are perfectly happy with using Celsius/Kelvin degrees for various purposes.
When winter is coming, if it's 3 deg C outside, I typically don't need to worry about ice. If it's -3 deg C outside, I need to worry about ice.
When winter is waning, if it's been icy and it's -3 deg C outside, I typically don't need to worry about water on top of the ice. If it's 3 deg C outside, I typically do need to worry about water on top of the ice making it super slippery.
Like people tell me that the US customary system is “more human scale and intuitive” but I literally cannot picture, say, 15 inches or ten feet - it just means nothing to me unless I mentally convert to centimetres or meters.
So much of these arguments boil down to “I grew up with this system so I can intuitively use it, so it must be superior”
This is essentially every American argument for USC or Imperial units. In fact, there are actually legitimate reasons why some legacy units are superior—for instance the duodecimal or sexagesimal systems which have many more factors than the decimal. But every other argument is a variation of 'it's better because I know it better'.
300K: beach weather.
350K: you're distilling your own moonshine right ?
(worksforme)
Home distilling is great fun, and sometimes it's even legal, but please have an accurate thermometer and try not to poison yourself and others unless absolutely necessary.
(These temperate levels are also humidity and altitide/pressure dependent, if your still is in the high Appalachies then just listen to your heart.)
Only highlighting that one can "humanly relate" to Kelvin-based temperatures. If one so wishes. And that "reference points" there needn't be any more "arbitrary" than for °F/°C.