Found this in to-day's Irish Times. Only the '600 F' mentioned is 60 degrees F, otherwise I would not understand this letter. I have copied the sentence that was really on the front page on February 3: "The rise was most marked -- 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15.5 Celsius) - on the mid-fuselage and particularly around the left wheel well as Columbia crossed California."
Han
DEGREES OF DIFFICULTY
Madam, - A numerical error crept into the front-page report of
February 3rd from the estimable Conor O'Clery on the Columbia shuttle
disaster. It concerns the conversion of temperature figures from Fahrenheit
to Celsius - something many people find confusing.
The report refers to a rise in temperature of 600 Fahrenheit, and
converts this into 15.50 Celsius. Now a temperature in the atmosphere of 600
F does indeed represent 15.50 C. However, the two temperatures scales do not
share a common zero point, and a temperature of zero Fahrenheit represents a
temperature of minus 17.80 Celsius. Thus, a rise in temperature of 600 F
converts into a rise of (15.5 + 17.8)0 C, i.e. 33.30 Celsius.
The sad thing is that the use of both imperial and metric measurements
causes confusion and simply wastes time (and thus money) in many scientific
and technological endeavours - and also in the everyday world of
engineering, architecture, etc.
Roll on standardisation! - Yours, etc.,
GERALD FLEMING, Meteorologist, Met �ireann, Glasnevin Hill, Dublin 9.
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