• s_s@lemmy.oneEnglish
    63·
    1 year ago

    I don’t think how hot humans feel works at all, it’s just arbitrary

    Fahrenheit was originally calculated to be 64 even divisions between water freezing temp and human body temp, then 32 more units below freezing.

    Then ambient human body temp was recalculated from 96F to 98.6F.

    So it’s not exactly arbitrary. It’s based on powers of 2, based upon an inaccurate measurement.

    • bignate@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      71·
      1 year ago

      I mean, the temperature 0 was assigned because it was the lowest temperature that winter in Fahrenheit’s town, and the “powers of two” was only chosen because it was simple to mark degree lines on his instrument. Feels quite arbitrary to me…