[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Celsius - and most of SI - is based on the properties of water, which
is much more natural. Water freezes at 0, boils at 100. This is far more
useful for everyday temperatures than Farenheit.
This is arbitrary as well... You just have to consider the variables envolved
in boiling water to realize that... water only boils or freezes at those
points under 1 atmosphere of preasure. Any less, and boiling point falls,
and freezing point rises. Any more, boiling point rises, and freezing point
falls.
This discussion of the unit systems brings me to a different question. If an
advanced, alien culture were to study us, for measuring liquids, which do you
think that alien culture would consider the superior system? I think they
would consider the imperial system superior. Not for the source of the
units, but for the structuring of it. The imperial system, with it's ounces,
cups, pints, quarts, half-gallons, gallons, etc. uses a binary system of
units (1cup = 8 (2^3) ounces, 1 pint = 2 cups, 1 quart = 2 pints, 1
half-gallon = 2 quarts, 1gallon = 2 half-gallons). I agree that the other
metric systems are better thought through than most of the imperial systems,
I think our measuring systems really need to be made into binary system, and
there is little point in forcing everyone to metric (base 10 being so
arbitrary), if converting metric to binary *then* adopting that would be far
superior.
Michael Harney
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
