this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2024
765 points (97.0% liked)

Science Memes

10970 readers
2188 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.

Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.

Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
765
Half as Hot (mander.xyz)
submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
110 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Kelvin is just our word for it, but that is the point of “no heat”. It isn’t arbitrary, there is no “negative kelvin” just like you cannot make something colder than absolute zero.

So if you take the difference between “coldest possible temp” and “average summer temp”, then slice it in half, you’re getting temperatures that would kill most life on earth.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Just to nitpick, there are negative kelvins. I don't really understand it, myself, but I know it exists due to the specifics of how temperature is defined. Negative kelvins are actually extremely hot.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

just because it has a reason doesn't make it not arbitrary. you can ultimately come up with a reason for all arbitrary decisions

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Do you not understand what the word arbitrary means?…

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

maybe you're the one who doesn't understand the ramifications of its meaning

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Is there a way to distinguish between arbitrary and non-arbitrary? Or is literally everything ever arbitrary?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

literally every definition ever is arbitrary

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Then what's the point of even calling it arbitrary? If it covers everything, then there's no reason for the word.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

that's not true. there are things that are not definitions. like my bed for instance, there are aspects that are arbitrary (my personal preferences, design choices, etc) and aspects that are not arbitrary (its physical form that exists beyond definition)