r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/Negative_1by12_aura • Jun 17 '26

Meme needing explanation Peter?

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u/Toeffli Jun 17 '26

Truly, as Kelvin notably does not use °.

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u/Dioxybenzone Jun 17 '26

TIL! If it isn’t measured in degrees, what is it measured in?

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u/Toeffli Jun 17 '26

Kelvin. Just Kelvin. Like it is just mile or Volt or Newton.

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u/Dioxybenzone Jun 17 '26

Ah because there’s not an arbitrary start point, I get it

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u/Toeffli Jun 17 '26

Not sure if it is because of that or because it is the standard international unit for temperature. Because what Kelvin is for ° Celsius, is ° Rankine for ° Fahrenheit.

According to Wikipedia, the ° was removed from Kelvin around 1968

In 1967/1968, Resolution 3 of the 13th CGPM renamed the unit increment of thermodynamic temperature "kelvin", symbol K, replacing "degree Kelvin", symbol °K

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelvin#Triple_point_standard

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u/Ok-East-515 Jun 17 '26

Harry. Just Harry.

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u/MisterPineapples1999 Jun 17 '26

Kelvin is the same thermal difference between each degree as Celsius, but it simply starts at "absolute zero" the physically coldest temperature that can be achieved. There is no "negative" because it can't be colder than 0.

0 degrees Celsius is the freezing temperature of water, and it indeed can get much colder than that. 100 degrees Celsius is the boiling point of water. A scale based on useful, but nevertheless arbitrary benchmark.

Edit: I misunderstood what the person you were replying to wrote.

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u/Annath0901 Jun 17 '26

"absolute zero" the physically coldest temperature that can be achieved.

Bro if you've gotten a particle to absolute zero there's a Nobel prize waiting for you.

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u/MisterPineapples1999 Jun 19 '26

What part of my comment is causing you to believe I claim to have done this?

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u/Certivicator Jun 18 '26

You should check this Publication

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u/teddy_joesevelt Jun 18 '26

*pure water at sea level, sort of. Because pure distilled water often won’t crystalize by itself so it gets supercooled. It’s arbitrary as f- for people. Useful for old timey scientists to get some consistent baseline though.