‹ BackHN Continuity

Thread

T. Rex Had a Body Temperature of 97°F

71 points · 124 comments · marojejian

  1. lioeters · · focus · HN ↗
    From the paper, that is: 36.3 ± 2.5°C.
    1. Galilyou · · focus · HN ↗
      Phew! Thank you! I feel for the ungodly fahrenheit again
      1. nmoon · · focus · HN ↗
        Fahrenheit is the superior measure
        1. WarmWash · · focus · HN ↗
          Better for day to day life, worse for science and engineering.
          1. jandrewrogers · · focus · HN ↗
            Kelvin is superior for science and engineering but doesn't arbitrarily anchor the scale to the freezing and boiling point of water in the way Celsius and Fahrenheit both do.

            273.15 Kelvin doesn't roll off the tongue like 0°C or 32°F.

            1. RajT88 · · focus · HN ↗
              32°F and 212°F roll off the tongue?
              1. jandrewrogers · · focus · HN ↗
                Relatively speaking? Yes. Also, the layman rarely needs to know the boiling point of water. The freezing point is useful though.

                For serious scientific and engineering applications the freezing and boiling point of water isn't actually 0°C and 100°C in most real scenarios.

                1. hibbelig · · focus · HN ↗
                  Doesn’t almost everybody cook? With boiling water?
                  1. roryirvine · · focus · HN ↗
                    Yeah, but you don't need a thermometer for that.

                    Using zero as the freezing point of water makes sense for everyday use, and using the boiling point for 100 degrees does follow fairly naturally from that - but plenty of other potential reference points could have worked equally well.

                    That said, for all the American claims of "fahrenheit is more human", 100 °C is the temperature of a hot sauna so works much better as "the highest temperature you'll encounter in day to day life" than 100 °F.

                    1. RajT88 · · focus · HN ↗
                      > "fahrenheit is more human"

                      This is among the least stupid claims us Americans make in defense of our measurement system.

Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.