Do Americans understand celsius?

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Because they are Decimal Fanatics.

ruveyn

Heh. Decimal fanatics...

I think it comes down to this, which is a footnote from Terry Pratchett/Neil Gaiman's "Good Omens":

It relates to currency, not temperature, but I suspect the same principle applies.

Some of us understand Celsius. I have to, personally, because in order to be a good scientist, I need to know all aspects of the metric system. I will admit though, I think that we should have been taught about it at the same time we were forced to learn the American version (having to learn it later was difficult.) Now, I've gotten to the point where someone can ask me to guess a temperature and I could give a general estimate in both Fahrenheit and Celsius.

When I step outside, I can't tell "oh, it's 5 degrees today". If I hear on the news that it is going to be 6 degrees tomorrow, then I can't exactly prepare differently. The extra precision is meaningless.

Would products that displayed temperature only in celsius be almost unsellable in the US or is there now a sufficient number of consumers who would be happy to buy them?

If these were instruments used primarily in science and engineering they would sell very nicely. People in the science and advanced technology here in the U.S. already work in metric.

By the way, Accuweather (tm) displays temperatures in both Farenheit and Celsius.

ruveyn

It has been a bit cooler today here in France. Only 293 Kelvin. It has been around 310 Kelvin recently.

A physics student was cooled to absolute zero, but he's 0K now.

Consumer products for the general populace?

Yes! They absolutely would NOT be sellable. You might as well try to sell cookbooks written in Chinese characters, or in heiroglyphics.

Scientists on their jobs use celsius-only equipment only. But off their jobs few can think in celsius and would know how to set an oven in celsius.

I see the problem as one of conversion.

SO MUCH of what we use is in the old English measurement system. Could you imagine trying to deal with X number of cookbooks that DON'T come in metric or have ingredients sold in metric.

I'm not sure how Europeans cope, but I think they switched to metric long enough ago that perhaps a market sprung up to deal with this.

Let's put it another way. Gas vs. Electric ovens. Gas heats faster, but the "control" factor isn't as good as electric. This can be critical. My mom has a cheesecake recipe that calls for using a "low oven." It was written back when people used wood or coal-fired stoves. There is no easy temperature conversion for this (although we think we found one from a cooking advice column in a newspaper).

If only middle+high school teachers in the US would elaborate more on the origins of the temperature units instead of having students mindlessly convert them.

I get both Al Jazeera, and Russia Today, on my non cable digital converter.

They both give weather for the whole planet. Which is kinda interesting to see once in a while. But Jazeera does it only in celsius. RT atleast gives the temperatures in both figures side by side. For a while I was good at doing that "add this number and divide by that trick"in my head to convert the Jazeera temperatures to familiar Fahrenheit. But Ive forgotten how to do it- or maybe my brain just couldnt take it anymore.

It was a curious though to see how HIGH the mid summer temperatures are in Iraq.

In Bagdad and in Basra the temperatures would be 110 Fahrenheit. At the same time the temperatures in Cairo, Tel Aviv, and Beirut, would all rarely get above 89, even though those mediterranean ports are all on the same latitudes as the Iraqi cities. I guess the sea has a moderating effect on the temperatures.

Do Non-Americans understand fahrenheit?

No, I don't. We use Celsius, and Kelvin in sciences.

No the average American probably does not understand or care to understand about Celsius. In school I had to learn the calculation to convert Farenheit to Celsius. 75 degrees Fahrenheit is roughly 25 degrees Celsius.

When I was in Europe it was comical to see how many km per hour was the speed limit as it always looked like a lot when you compare it to mph.

It has crossed my mind that cities with a high proportion of young, well educated, or foreign people - or any combination of these - will be more receptive to consumer products that displayed temperature only in celsius than areas with an older or less educated population. Could it be that there actually is a significant local demand for celsius consumer products in certain areas but the market has overlooked it?

If celsius is taught in schools then at about what age do Americans start thinking in terms of fahrenheit?

When do Europeans start thinking in celsius?

Thats when Americans start thinking in Fahrenhiet.

They teach both in school. But the weatherman talks in fahrenheit. And so do your parents when they decide to put a sweater on you that day, or turn on the AC, or whatever. Fahrenhiet is your native tongue, and celsius is the second language (if even that).