WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Fahrenheit or Celsius

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, and welcome to the short Stuff. I'm Josh Fahrenheit Clark,

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<v Speaker 1>there's Chuck, Celsius Bryant and Jerry Kelvin Rowland is here

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<v Speaker 1>with us too, And Dave is there a fourth measure

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<v Speaker 1>of temperature? Mamuh, Muggy, Dave, Dave, Muggy see is here

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<v Speaker 1>in spirit?

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I'm not sure what just happened.

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<v Speaker 1>To me, Muggy. That was great, Chuck, Uh.

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<v Speaker 2>Celsius and fahrenheit as something we've been talking about a

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<v Speaker 2>little bit lately on the show. Sometimes we do that

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<v Speaker 2>what do you call it, conversion, conversion, almost a transformation,

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<v Speaker 2>the same thing. Sometimes we do that conversion. Sometimes we don't,

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<v Speaker 2>and we you know, some people ask us to and

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<v Speaker 2>sometimes we remember, so we apologize if we don't often

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<v Speaker 2>do that conversion.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, we're selective, Okay, Yeah, because here we're here in

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<v Speaker 1>the United States, which means we're all about farrenheight. So

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<v Speaker 1>really it would just make sense for us to convert

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<v Speaker 1>everything to celsius. Yeah, when we're talking about temperature, because

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<v Speaker 1>basically the rest of the world is all about celsius.

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<v Speaker 1>We'll talk about that in a little bit. First, Chuck,

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<v Speaker 1>I want to throw back. I don't remember what episode

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<v Speaker 1>it was, but we mentioned a guy named Simohaya who

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<v Speaker 1>is known as the White Death of World War two.

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<v Speaker 1>He was finish and he killed like more Nazis than

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<v Speaker 1>anyone else, and he was just a simple farm hand.

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<v Speaker 2>I think, yeah, I think that might have been a

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<v Speaker 2>listener mail or something.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, So we talked about how he would go out

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<v Speaker 1>and shoot people even in weather as low as negative

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<v Speaker 1>forty degrees farentheight, and that set off an avalanche of

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<v Speaker 1>emails when people say, you didn't have to say fahrenheit

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<v Speaker 1>because negative forty is the same in celsius in farrenheit.

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<v Speaker 1>It's the only temperature that's the same in these two

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<v Speaker 1>different scales. And we're going to talk about why finally,

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<v Speaker 1>after all these years.

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<v Speaker 2>That's right and big thanks to HowStuffWorks dot Com and

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<v Speaker 2>Jesslynshields and our old friend Patrick J. Kiger, because they

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<v Speaker 2>put it in a very simple way that's very easy

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<v Speaker 2>to understand. Is that these two different temperatures they are

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<v Speaker 2>and you know, we'll talk about the differences, but celsius

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<v Speaker 2>is larger than fahrenheit, and so when that happens, as

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<v Speaker 2>a runner who is faster than another runner, eventually you

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<v Speaker 2>can lap that slower runner, and eventually Celsius will lap fahrenheit,

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<v Speaker 2>and you lap fahrenheit at negative forty.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and the reason why celsius is bigger than fahrenheit

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<v Speaker 1>is because you have more of a temperature range compressed

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<v Speaker 1>into a smaller scale, where Farrenheight has the same temperature

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<v Speaker 1>range pulled out over a longer scale. The thing is is,

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<v Speaker 1>even when you're talking about that, it still didn't quite

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<v Speaker 1>make sense to me. I'm like, yeah, a runner can

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<v Speaker 1>lap a runner when he's slower. I still don't quite

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<v Speaker 1>get it. And then finally I looked up I looked

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<v Speaker 1>it up on I think Quorra came back with the

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<v Speaker 1>best explanation. They said, think of it as a graph.

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<v Speaker 1>So you've got Farentheight going up at one angle and

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<v Speaker 1>Celsius going up at a slightly different angle. Yeah, if

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<v Speaker 1>you zoom out long enough on that graph or far

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<v Speaker 1>enough by that graph, eventually those two lines are going

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<v Speaker 1>to connect with one another. Since they're spreading out from

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<v Speaker 1>zero in different directions, they're not going to connect there,

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<v Speaker 1>but they'll connect behind them in the negative And they

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<v Speaker 1>just so happen to connect at negative forty.

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<v Speaker 2>Right, because Celsius is one. Each degree is one point

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<v Speaker 2>eight times larger than fahrenheit.

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<v Speaker 1>Right, yeah, again, because there's more compressed into a smaller scale.

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<v Speaker 2>Right, and that's why you get different freezing and boiling points.

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<v Speaker 2>Of course, everyone knows fahrenheit freezes at thirty two and

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<v Speaker 2>boils at two twelve. Celsius is much cleaner and easier

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<v Speaker 2>to remember because water freezes at zero and boils at

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<v Speaker 2>one hundred.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah. So if you really want to think about it,

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<v Speaker 1>it takes much more sophistication and brain power to understand

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<v Speaker 1>farentheight than celsia.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh for sure.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, as an American.

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<v Speaker 2>Uh so, if you were to do the formula for conversion,

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<v Speaker 2>which we don't do. We just look it up and

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<v Speaker 2>type it in our little wonder machines.

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<v Speaker 1>Yes, but now we can in our heads even.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, because if you have a U, if you want

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<v Speaker 2>to convert from celsius to fahrenheit, you multiply that temp

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<v Speaker 2>in celsius by that one point eight, which is what

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<v Speaker 2>we talked about, was a difference in size, and then

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<v Speaker 2>you add thirty two. It's that simple.

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<v Speaker 1>That's it. I mean, that's it. So for example, so

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<v Speaker 1>I like I still if I see like a temperature

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<v Speaker 1>in celsius something like I have no no idea whether

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<v Speaker 1>that's cold, hot, whatever. But let's take twenty degrees celsius

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<v Speaker 1>for example. You want to find out the farentheight equivalent.

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<v Speaker 1>You got twenty, which is the celsius degree times one

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<v Speaker 1>point eight. That equals thirty six, okay, and then you

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<v Speaker 1>just add the thirty two. And the reason you're adding

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<v Speaker 1>or subtracting thirty two is because you're trying to zero

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<v Speaker 1>out both scales. You're trying to even themount from the

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<v Speaker 1>same starting point. So you either add or subtract thirty two,

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<v Speaker 1>whether you're trying to convert to farent height or celsius.

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<v Speaker 1>So in this case, twenty degrees celsius adds up to

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<v Speaker 1>be sixty eight degrees fahrenheit, and then the same thing

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<v Speaker 1>goes for celsius too. You just flip it around fahrenheit

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<v Speaker 1>minus thirty two divided by one point eight, same thing.

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<v Speaker 1>And so if you do that same thing with negative

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<v Speaker 1>forty degrees celsius, you get negative forty degrees farent height

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<v Speaker 1>and vice versa because they intersect just at that one temperature.

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<v Speaker 1>I love it now, it makes sense, yeah, or it

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<v Speaker 1>does to me. I'm sure I probably just confused everybody.

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<v Speaker 2>How about we take a break in and we'll just

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<v Speaker 2>talk a little bit about why America, like many things,

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<v Speaker 2>is still hung up on using something that the rest

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<v Speaker 2>of the world does not.

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<v Speaker 3>Right, just like the number of stars and the sky,

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<v Speaker 3>there is so much stuck.

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<v Speaker 2>All right. I tease the fact that the United States

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<v Speaker 2>of America and a few other places the Bahamas, Belize,

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<v Speaker 2>came in islands somewhere else.

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<v Speaker 1>I think Palau.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, we use fahrenheit, and we stuck with fahrenheit,

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<v Speaker 2>And it's just one of those sort of things that

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<v Speaker 2>Americans stuck to when everyone else over time eventually went

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<v Speaker 2>with celsius or centigrade. No one says centigrade, though, do they.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, that was Celsius's original term for it, but I've

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<v Speaker 1>seen it some places eggheads call it centigrade.

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<v Speaker 2>A German scientist named Daniel Gabrielle Fahrenheit invented fahrenheit in

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<v Speaker 2>the early seventeen hundreds, and a Swedish astronomer not too

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<v Speaker 2>long I think, a few decades later, named Onders Celsius

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<v Speaker 2>or was it Onders centigrade came up with celsius and

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<v Speaker 2>was like, hey, everybody, this is multiples of ten. It's

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<v Speaker 2>a lot easier to remember, works well with the metric system,

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<v Speaker 2>so let's just use that exactly.

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<v Speaker 1>And the metric people were like, yes, it really does work.

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<v Speaker 1>We're all about powers of ten and ten base counting systems,

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<v Speaker 1>so let's go celsius. We're all in with you. And

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<v Speaker 1>Europe just kind of started to go that way. But

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<v Speaker 1>in the English speaking world, centered in the UK, up

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<v Speaker 1>until not that long ago, fahrenheit still reigned. And then

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<v Speaker 1>finally in nineteen sixty one, the met Office in the

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<v Speaker 1>UK said, hey, we're going to start talking about temperatures

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<v Speaker 1>in celsius because we look a little backwards compared to

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<v Speaker 1>our European neighbors. And then as that happened, countries that

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<v Speaker 1>were still part of the British Empire, to one degree

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<v Speaker 1>or another, get a degree. They started following suit and

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<v Speaker 1>converting to celsius too. But the US said, hey, King

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<v Speaker 1>of England, Queen England, we don't care whichever it is.

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<v Speaker 1>You can't push us around. We're sticking with fahrenheit.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, even though it's kind of funny here. The National

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<v Speaker 2>Weather Service, the US National Weather Surface on the inside,

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<v Speaker 2>they use celsius, but they don't broadcast it out. They

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<v Speaker 2>broadcast it out as fahrenheit because Americans, of course, would

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<v Speaker 2>be like, what are you even talking about with the

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<v Speaker 2>Celsia stuff.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, not only that, I mean, if word ever gets

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<v Speaker 1>out that the National Weather Service actually uses Celsius internally,

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<v Speaker 1>Americans will show up with pitchforks and torches and just

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<v Speaker 1>burn their whole building.

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<v Speaker 2>Down, led by Mo the bartender.

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<v Speaker 1>That's right.

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<v Speaker 2>He always led the pitchforks and torch crowd, which always

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<v Speaker 2>show is very funny to me.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, that crowd's big drinker, so he wanted to make

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<v Speaker 1>sure that he was in with them.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, but he was always right up front. I love that.

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<v Speaker 1>So you got anything else?

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<v Speaker 2>I got nothing else. This one was super short.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it short stuff.

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