On Tue, 08 May 2001 00:08:45 -0400, Clarence Verge wrote:
<snip>
> The Fahrenheit scale was arrived at by an interesting series of mistakes.
> Fahrenheit, German by birth, thought he was using a method described by
> a contempory Dane, Roemer to calibrate his thermometers. He got the zero
> point right - it was the coldest temperature they could regularly achieve
> in the early 1700s - obtained by mixing ice and salt.
> The first mistake was the high point which he misunderstood to be "BLOOD"
> heat.
> The next happened when the scale was modified (rationalized) to put the
> high point an even multiple of the freezing point of water which was 32.
> This now made blood heat 96. (wrong u say?)
> Finally, an inaccurate measurment he made of the boiling point of water
> came out to 212 on his scale. This number later became accepted as the
> high point for calibration which, when measured properly, finally resulted
> in blood heat being 98.6F.
> It WAS the 1700s and you have to admit there appears to be some human
> element in the calibration - the LACK of which is what I complained
> about re: "C".
Ah yes... Perfectly human.
(considering that the finished "F" scale was achieved through a series
of several "F#$&-ups") <VBG>
--
Glenn
http://arachne.cz/
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