The genesis of this idea was a story by Kevin Kling on NPR yesterday (see link). He observed that in England people use Farenheit for when it is really hot, e.g., "it's bloody hot. Almost 100", and Celsius for describing cold weather, e.g., "its cold, like one below zero."
I propose combining the two so there is one scale that has freezing of water as 0 and mas-o-menos human body temperature for 100. However, a problem is that if you divide this in equal size degrees, you end up with a degree that is smaller than a Farenheit degree, namely, .68 of a Farenheit degree or .37 of a Celsius degree. The problem with that is that statements like it is one below zero no longer means something like -1 Celsius. And even "its 101" actually is only 100.68 deg F (not as big an issue).
To remedy that problem I propose a scale where the degree size varies from 0 to 100 such that the first degree is the size of 1 Celsius degree and the 100th degree is the size of a Farenheit degree. That way, you can still have freezing water and body temperatures as end-points, and have the degree size to be about right at each end-point. In between, the degree size changes smoothly such that the sum of the 100 degrees equal 68 Farenheit degrees. Someone more mathematically inclined can come up with the formula. It should be some sort of hyperbola with the values f(1) = 1.8, f(100) = 1, and a minimum around f(50). Sum f(i) = 68. I'll put my best math guy on figuring it out.-- Goesta Berling, Feb 05 2005 Cum-se cum-sa? http://mas-o-menos....s.com/lyrics/69207/ [2 fries shy of a happy meal, Feb 06 2005] Just what the world needs...ANOTHER scale for temperature. (-)-- suctionpad, Feb 05 2005 what [IT] said. This Kevin Klingon person is obviously very old to have observed the metric/imperial conversion in the UK. Ignore his rantings about the weather - he's obviously trying to change the subject so you don't notice he's 380 years old. Get the secret of immortality from him, quick!
What does mas-o-menos mean?
Just read this properly... are we talking about a scale with a unit which decreases in size as temperature increases? In that case, how hot is the sun?-- moomintroll, Feb 05 2005 mas o menos = more or less, give or take a few.-- jutta, Feb 05 2005 moomintroll no habla español?
Español no es dificil.-- DesertFox, Feb 05 2005 Nein. Wie komme ich am besten zum bahnhof, bitte?-- moomintroll, Feb 06 2005 [moomintroll] Did you learn from Deutsch Heuter, that is about the only phrase I can remember apart from
'Frau Bauer ist auf dein poste'-- rambling_sid, Feb 07 2005 Yeah, I think that was it's name, [sid]. You must have been in the advanced class - I can only remember the one phrase.-- moomintroll, Feb 07 2005 Make absolute zero (-273.15 °C) -1000 °X and put the triple point of water at 0 °X (like Celsius), that’d make 100 °X about 27.315 °C, body temperature (i.e. ca. 100 °F) around 135 °X.
For medical purposes you’d rather want a scale that has its zero point between 36 and 37 °C and a degree size of about 0.1 K.
Anyhow, I’m fine with the Celsius scale.-- Crissov, Jun 07 2005 The Kelvin scale makes more sense - zero is as cold as it is possible for a thing to be. So, it really is a meaningfull measure of temperature. Oddly, Kevin Kling is an anagram of King Kelvin. Which is of no significance whatever.-- Basepair, Jun 07 2005 This idea does have some (slight) scientific merit, since the heat capacity of water does increase with temperature—by nearly a factor of 4 at 400C. But it doesn’t vary much between freezing and boiling.-- ldischler, Jun 07 2005 How about a log scale, based on human perception?-- kevinthenerd, Jun 10 2008 random, halfbakery