FLASHCARDS: Hot and Cold Hacks for Temp Conversion

FLASHCARDS: Hot and Cold Hacks for Temp Conversion

🔎 Episode Overview

In this episode of Flashcard Friday on Math, Science, History, we dive into the fascinating history of temperature measurement and introduce an easy mental trick for converting between Fahrenheit and Celsius. Learn how Gabriel Fahrenheit and Anders Celsius developed their temperature scales, why different countries use different systems, and how a simple formula can help you quickly convert between them—so you’ll never pack the wrong clothes for your trip again!

🧠 What You’ll Learn:

✔️ The History of Temperature Scales
✔️ Quick Mental Conversion Trick
✔️ Why Different Countries Use Different Scales

🏛 Links & Resources:

Thermometers!
Round Galileo Thermometer https://amzn.to/43vRe4r

Analog Weather Station https://amzn.to/4bisRJa

Galileo Thermometer with Glass Globe Barometer https://amzn.to/4igK5sA

Retro Indoor Outdoor Thermometer https://amzn.to/3QybgmP
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Episode Transcript

(00:01):
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) It's Flash Card Friday, and here at Math
Science History, we're going to figure out whether
you need to take a coat or a
swimsuit on your next vacation.
Because if the news from Vancouver, Canada is
telling you it's 35 degrees, you're definitely going
to need a swimsuit.
But if the news from Los Angeles, California
is telling you it's 35 degrees, you're gonna

(00:23):
need a parka.
Today, we're going to flash you with a
fascinating history of temperature measurement and explore a
neat trick for converting between Celsius and Fahrenheit
in your head.
The story of temperature begins in the early
1700s with two scientists, Gabriel Fahrenheit and Anders
Celsius.
Gabriel Fahrenheit was a Polish-German physicist and

(00:44):
engineer, born in 1686 in what is now
modern-day Poland.
He was fascinated with precision instruments, and in
the early 1700s, he worked extensively with mercury
thermometers, vastly improving their accuracy.
In 1724, he introduced the Fahrenheit temperature scale,
setting the freezing point of water at 32

(01:05):
degrees and the boiling point at 212 degrees,
with 180 equal degrees between them.
His work became widely accepted, especially in England
and later in the United States.
Anders Celsius, born in Sweden in 1701, was
an astronomer first and foremost.
He traveled extensively across Europe, working with the

(01:26):
leading scientists of his time.
He was particularly interested in measuring the aurora
borealis and improving astronomical observations.
In 1742, he proposed his temperature scale, where
water freezes at 100 degrees and boils at
0 degrees.
Other than the reverse of degrees for boiling
and freezing, it was much simpler.

(01:48):
The reason why he set his temperature scale
with 0 degrees at boiling and 100 degrees
at freezing is that he was influenced by
a scale that was used at the time
called the Delisle scale.
The Delisle scale was invented in 1732 by
the French astronomer Joseph-Nicholas Delisle.
Though he didn't have a temperature for freezing,

(02:09):
he had set the boiling point at zero.
As a result, this particular scale had increasing
numbers for decreasing temperatures.
The purpose was to avoid working with negative
values.
However, after Celsius died in 1744, scientists and
mathematicians flipped the scale, putting zero at freezing
and 100 at boiling.

(02:29):
And in case you are wondering, Fahrenheit and
Celsius never met, and their scales weren't exactly
part of a direct rivalry.
By the time Celsius introduced his system, Fahrenheit
had already been in use for two decades.
However, the world naturally gravitated towards Celsius' metric
-based system over time because of its simplicity
and compatibility with scientific measurements.

(02:52):
So why do some countries use Fahrenheit?
Well, Fahrenheit remains in the standard in the
United States, as well as in a few
other places like the Bahamas and Cayman Islands.
This is largely due to historical adoption.
When the U.S. first established standardized measurements,
Fahrenheit was already in use, and switching to
Celsius later would have required massive effort and

(03:14):
public adjustment.
Additionally, Fahrenheit is often preferred for weather reporting
because it provides more precise incremental changes at
common temperatures, making it easier to describe small
fluctuations.
Most of the world, however, uses Celsius due
to its logical zero to 100 scale, which
fits well within the metric system used for

(03:35):
scientific and everyday measurements.
Countries that have switched from Fahrenheit to Celsius,
such as Canada and the U.K., did
so as part of broader metrication efforts in
the 20th century.
Now, let's say you are planning your vacation
and you are listening to Radio Canada, one
of my favorite apps, and you're planning to
go to Vancouver, Canada, one of my favorite

(03:57):
places.
Now, in case you don't know, they have
tepid temperatures depending on the time of the
year.
And the news on Radio Canada is saying
it is 35 degrees.
And you're thinking, oh my gosh, it's July
and it's cold there and I have to
take a parka.
This is awful.
And then you show up and everybody's walking
around in shorts and you're burning up in
a sweater.

(04:18):
Why did that happen?
Well, Canada measures their temperatures in Celsius and
the United States measures their temperatures in Fahrenheit.
You forgot to convert the two temperatures.
But now that will never happen because there's
a way to quickly convert them in your
head.
I'm having too much fun with this.

(04:38):
Okay.
First, to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit, you can
double the Celsius temperature and then add 30.
Here's how it works.
Let's say it's 20 degrees Celsius.
Double it to get 40, then add 30.
That gives you 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
To convert Fahrenheit to Celsius, you can subtract
30 and then divide by 2.
For example, if it's 86 degrees Fahrenheit, subtract

(05:00):
30 to get 56 and then divide by
2, which gives you 28 degrees Celsius.
But if you want more than an approximation,
the actual formula is slightly different.
Fahrenheit equals Celsius times 1.8 plus 32.
Celsius equals Fahrenheit minus 32 times 0.56.

(05:20):
I'll put those formulas on my website at
mathsciencehistory.com.
And if you're listening to this while you're
driving and you're trying to write it down
and make sense of it, first, don't write
anything down while you're driving.
Pay attention to the road.
But if you do want to write it
down and you do want to solve this,
don't forget to use PEMDAS, which is an

(05:41):
acronym for parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, and
subtraction, in that order.
It's also an acronym for please excuse my
dear Aunt Sally, which is not only useful
in remembering PEMDAS, it's also useful if you
and your Aunt Sally are in public and
she's really gassy.

(06:01):
So what are some takeaways that we can
learn from this?
First, understand the temperature scales and remember that
in Celsius, zero degrees is freezing and boiling
is 100 degrees.
And in Fahrenheit, water freezes at 32 degrees
and boils at 212 degrees.
Second, remember the simple rule for conversion, which

(06:22):
is to double the Celsius temperature, add 30,
and you're close to Fahrenheit.
Third, double check your travel plans to make
sure you're traveling to a country that is
either Fahrenheit or Celsius.
And there you have it.
A quick look at the history of temperature
measurement, a mental shortcut to convert between Celsius
and Fahrenheit, and an understanding of why some

(06:43):
regions prefer one scale over the other.
Next time you're checking the weather, you'll be
able to do those conversions with ease.
Thanks for tuning in to Math Science History.
And until next time, carpe diem!