The US is different - why do we use Fahrenheit instead of Celsius? What are the differences?
99 percent of countries on Earth use Celsius to measure temperature, but the US does things it’s own way.
When measuring temperature the US does things it’s own way - which for most of the world is very confusing. We use the Fahrenheit scale, which sets us apart from everyone on the planet, except for Cayman Islands and Liberia.
What is curious is that the most economically advanced country on the planet still uses a measurement that can be difficult to read, according to some, and is not mathematically precise, leading to an embarrassing $125 million mistake back in 1999.
A conversion mistake between the two scales led to a Mars rover being destroyed; Fahrenheit has an inbuilt error that makes a perfect conversion impossible. So why is the US stuck to its old way of measuring temperature?
What is the history behind the systems?
Fahrenheit is named after Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, a German scientist born in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1686. He was the first person to create a mostly reliable way to consistently tell the temperature.
Fahrenheit set zero at the lowest temperature he could get a water and salt mixture to reach. The second fixed point in the system was the temperature of the human body, 96 degrees, but his measurement was slightly off. This set the boiling point of water at 212 degrees, and the freezing point at 32 degrees.
It's 53 degrees and sunny in Calgary. I've been here in November blizzards when the temperature was so low Fahrenheit and Celsius were the same. I'm bringing good weather with me everywhere on this trip.
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) November 22, 2021
The British liked his ideas and, after inducting him into the Royal Society in 1724, the measurement proliferated around the globe as the British Empire expanded.
However, the invention of the metric system but thermometers back under microscope. The French Revolution inspired an overturning of the old ways, and Fahrenheit was thrown out. It helped that the change stuck; it makes sense that the zero temperature is the freezing point of water, with 100 degrees as the boiling point. Both can be easily visualized as ice and steam, but Fahrenheit has no visual cue for what the temperature is.
Even the British changed their ways, mostly at least, in 1965, and the US was very close to following suit.
Why hasn't the US changed to the metric system?
In 1975, Congress passed a law that was supposed to begin the process of metrication. It set up a Metric Board to supervise the transition.
Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Kelvin all have a purpose to some degree.#DadWeatherJokes #FathersDay
— National Weather Service (@NWS) June 22, 2020
However, as it made metrication voluntary, rather than mandatory, people simply chose not to learn the new systems for temperatures and weights.
"Motorists rebelled at the idea of highway signs in kilometers, weather watchers blanched at the notion of reading a forecast in Celsius, and consumers balked at the prospect of buying poultry by the kilogram," Jason Zengerle writes in Mother Jones.
So the US still uses Fahrenheit, and there have been no major attempts to change it since.
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