Well, kelvins above freezing is too wordy, so you need a symbol, perhaps Kaf. Except that is longer (but easier to type) than °C. The idea that the above freezing could be dropped is even worse. "20 kelvins" could either be 293 K or 20 K. This proposal is starting to sound like Brij's calendar. Lets stick with kelvins for absolute temperature and degrees Celsius for relative. It works, it has lots of precedence, and the symbols are well understood. The one thing we should consider is in a compound unit such as themal resistance, that depend on temperature difference, only kelvins be used, or for increments, 30°C is 5 K warmer than 25 °C.
________________________________ From: Bill Hooper <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Wed, September 1, 2010 1:18:03 PM Subject: [USMA:48441] Re: kelvin On Sep 1 , at 2:49 AM, Stan Doore wrote (asking about temperatures in photography): I guess they are degrees C like any other temperature. Right? Yes, but all such temperatures could be stated as 20 k above freezing. We don't really need degrees Celsius. It might be helpful to agree that, whenever absolute temperature is intended (when we mean how many kelvins above absolute zero), then one would need to specify "absolute temperature". Then, the phrase "above freezing" might be omitted whenever absolute temperature is NOT intended (which is usually the case). It would be the same as the elevation above sea level example I keep using. We usually measure elevations above sea level so we do not usually specify "above sea level". It is "understood" to be the case. In those case where we are actually measuring distances from the center of the Earth, it is then necessary to specify "from the center of the Earth". Getting back to the temperature case, what I am suggesting is simply that we replace "degrees Celsius" by "kelvins above freezing", plus the possibility that we could normally omit the phrase "above freezing" when that is understood to be the case (which is most of the time). Bill Hooper 1810 mm tall (when I'm standing up) Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA ========================== SImplification Begins With SI. ==========================
