The Politics of Temperature

I was perusing Google News the other day and noticed something I had missed before. The temperatures in the weather section had three possible measurements: “C, F and K”.  While it was 88°F it was also 31°C and a staggering 304°K.

I thought to myself, “The same data, interpreated differantly, with completely different results and renderings”. Reminded me of politics. So I did a little reading and, sure enough, there is a correlation.

The Independent:

The Fahrenheit scale is a temperature scale based on one proposed in 1724 by physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736).

The lower defining point, 0 °F, was established as the freezing temperature of a solution of brine (salt water) made from equal parts of ice, water and a salt (aka: ammonium chloride). It was a basis that no one understood. Later the freezing point of pure water was added (32°F).

Fahrenheit is the most arbitrary and independent of temperature measurement in use today. Its use is limited to the United States and some Caribbean islands. Few people in the world use this measure. It is ‘Independent’ of any mathematical or scientific principle – outside of ‘brine’.

The Conservative:

The Celsius scale, also known as the centigrade scale, is a temperature scale used, literally, by the rest of the world.

In 1742, Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius (1701–1744) created a decimal temperature scale that was the reverse of the scale now known as "Celsius": 0 represented the boiling point of water, while 100 represented the freezing point of water.

A year later, in 1743, the French physicist Jean-Pierre Christin, working independently of Celsius, developed a scale where zero represented the freezing point of water and 100 represented the boiling point of water.

The initial problem with Celsius arose from the fact altitude will affect the boiling point of water. So, the scale was amended to “…100 °C for the boiling point of water - at one standard atmosphere” or, in layman’s terms, sea level.

This is the most conservative because it has a lower and upper limit (0-100) and even a location (sea level) assigned to both its range and accuracy. All the other scales are open ended with no defining upper limit. Not to mention, its origins are inverse to its naming convention. Celsius got the nod only because he invented a decimal system of measurement – not because he got it right.

The Liberal:

Named after the Belfast-born, Glasgow University engineer and physicist William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (1824–1907), the Kelvin scale is the most scientific, and most refined, of all temperature measurements. Zero degree Kelvin is exactly −273.15 °C. Better known as ‘absolute zero’, it is the point at which nothing can get colder.

On 20 May 2019, the kelvin was redefined so that its value is now determined by the definition of the Boltzmann constant rather than being defined by the triple point of water (VSMOW).

If this sounds confusing, it was meant to be: It’s liberal.

Conclusions

Other similarities strike me too. For instance, politicians and weather forecasters alike have the only jobs in America where they can be wrong over 50% of the time and still keep their jobs.

I often see political ‘alternative facts’ interpreted as if there were actually some measurement that justified the conclusions. Maybe they are just the same data with political measurements. We need to start placing temperature conversion symbols next to every political statement or opinion. Like:

“The crowds at Obama’s first inauguration were the largest^(k) in history.” However, “The crowds at Trumps first inauguration were also the largest^(c) in history.” But in truth, “Many people^(f) did not see much of a difference.”

I’m cool with that. No pun intended.