Re: F vs C

From: Rand Nicholson (writserv@nbnet.nb.ca)
Date: Thu Apr 23 1998 - 01:09:28 PDT


Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 08:09:28 +0000
From: Rand Nicholson <writserv@nbnet.nb.ca>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg1360$foo@default>
Subject: Re: F vs C

Hi Carl and All:

>OK and we go on...

And on ...

>Does this all really matter? Actually water doesn't boil at 100C I've had
>it boil as low as 95C and as high as 108C It fluctuates due to barometric
>pressure and altitude. What I'm trying to say is temperature measurement is
>all relative. Lets use degrees Kelvin!!! That way 0K is fixed, molecules
>cease to vibrate, electrons stop orbiting, matter comes to a stand still.
>For the folks who need to know, thats about -273C, who knows what it is
>farenheit? Better Question, does it really matter?

That is a good point. The boiling and freezing point of water are measured
using _sea level_ as the constant (which may explain some confusion as to
salt vs "fresh" water earlier on in this thread) and even that is a mean
due to the barometric fluctuations Carl pointed out.

0 Kelvin (-273.15 C) is -459.67 degrees F.

"Does it really matter?" Perhaps to cosmologists, quantum physicists and
the like.

It didn't matter much to me until it was brought up here in this thread and
then, if I didn't have a tiny conversion s/w program on my desktop (one of
a few shareware and freeware programs which can be d/l from various public
software sites) that can convert almost anything into anything else in a
split second, I wouldn't have cared enough to figure it out using my own
clunky wetware.

A fast measures and weights utility is real handy for me as a gardener and
a cp'er for converting dry, liquid and other measurements. Comes in handy
for grocery shopping, aspects of my small business and puttering "handyman"
home projects, also. For slothoids as myself, it is much better than tables
or charts that you have to search through and much faster than pencil and
paper.

It also enables me to butt into threads like this, or annoy people by
giving out full decimal places ...

Incidently, Carl, a friend tells me that S. purpurea has started up down
here in the Maritimes (mine certainly has) and we are going to visit a site
this weekend. Will be looking for anthrocyanin (sp?) free plants to track
until they bloom, to see if there are any differences. We are having an
early, mild spring here, so far, a rarity over the last ten or so years.
The trees are just in bud and the ice storm damage in the woodlands can
still be seen. Not as bad as I feared, but the old growth did suffer.

Kind Regards,

Rand

Rand Nicholson
New Brunswick
Maritime Canada, Z 5b
<writserv@nbnet.nb.ca>



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