As you may probably know, temperature is often expressed in Kelvin, particularly in technical and scientific papers. One Kelvin is equal in size to one degree Celsius, but the starting point differs (zero Kelvin being about minus 273 Celsius).
Although the equivalence between Celsius and Kelvin is convenient for everyday purposes, it has resulted in the original unit of temperature falling into disuse. I refer, of course, to the elvin, equal to one thousandth of a degree Celsius.
Now that temperature control (including the asymptotic pursuit of absolute zero) is becoming more advanced, the Kilo-elvin (Kelvin) has become too blunt a unit of measurement. We need to campaign to have the elvin restored as a unit of temperature measurement. Instead of claiming that "researchers have obtained temperatures as low as 0.02 Kelvin", we can save several characters by using natural units and giving the temperature as 20 elvins.
Naturally, the very lowest temperatures must be expressed in melvins (one thousandth of an elvin, equal in size to millionth of a degree Celsius), whilst extremes of temperature can conveniently be expressed in Melvins - far more sensible that microKelvins or kiloKelvins.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 22 2008 Positive and negative picokelvin temperatures http://ltl.tkk.fi/triennial/positive.html?? [csea, Jul 23 2008] William Thomson would not be amused http://en.wikipedia...n,_1st_Baron_KelvinActually, perhaps he would. Born in Belfast and great son of Glasgow, I'm sure he'd have seen the funny side. [Jinbish, Jul 23 2008] That's not hard! My local news recently reported scientists were able to get the Large Hadron Collider down to a temperature of "-27 degrees C". Perhaps a new unit of measurement would prevent such media blunders. [+]-- ed, Jul 22 2008 Isn't a Melvin a slang term for a wedgie?
[uranus is gaseous....huh huh huh]-- WhereYouAt, Jul 22 2008 The uppercase k troubles me.-- Texticle, Jul 23 2008 I'm afraid your 'melvin' isn't small enough - the lowest temperature obtained in a lab is less than a nano-kelvin.-- neutrinos_shadow, Jul 23 2008 //the very lowest temperatures must be expressed in melvins (one thousandth of an elvin, equal in size to millionth of a degree Celsius)//
Wouldn't that then be a Thelvin?-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jul 23 2008 Young [MaxwellBuchanan] was delvin' To temperatures lower than (one) Kelvin, But soon, if our hero Bakes buns less than zero-- The entire idea he'll be shelvin' !-- csea, Jul 23 2008 Bravo!-- Jinbish, Jul 23 2008 Doesn't this whole unit of measurement sounds like a bridge between Lord of the Rings and physics?
[the one ring's melting point is 1e7 elvins]-- WhereYouAt, Jul 23 2008 The temperature is 1 degree Calvin, 17 minutes Hobbes.-- 4whom, Jul 23 2008 [WhereYouAt] You may be thinking of a Merkin...which, although wedge-like, is not a wedgie.-- 4whom, Jul 23 2008 // 1 degree Calvin //
Isn't the Calvin the unit of temperature of the Hell in which all catholics and sinners will burn ?-- 8th of 7, Jul 25 2008 We had a really hot day around here not too long ago. The temperature was up to 11.3 egrees Fahrenheit (4.5 egrees Celsius).-- ytk, Mar 22 2011 random, halfbakery