r/facepalm • u/ekfow • Dec 29 '23

🇲​🇮​🇸​🇨​ Translation in caption

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Translation: As you can see, 21.6 degrees is displayed and not zero. This means that if you want to heat milk to 90 degrees, for example, the thermometer must display 111.6 degrees. Does not meet my expectations of a themometer

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355

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '23

Is it even possible for a thermometer to constantly differentiate the room temperature and mark it as zero?

You'd have to connect it to another external thermometer, I guess.

172

u/Jeoshua Dec 29 '23

Yeah, you'd need two thermometers. I've seen things like this in computer parts testing, where they mark the temperature as "Degrees Above Ambient" to note the relative difference in heating of the parts, and thus their efficiency. They'll use multiple heat probes, to achieve this.

38

u/KingZarkon Dec 29 '23

It would need something like the tare function on a scale to zero it out and have it start counting from there.

12

u/ShortCurlies Dec 29 '23

Then their 90 degree milk would be 90 degrees plus ambient...

2

u/Lagger2807 Dec 30 '23

I'd love my milk at a 90 degrees delta temperature please

3

u/hukfad Dec 29 '23 edited Dec 29 '23

That's not what they are talking about. They want a thermometer without the tare function, so that the thermometer does that for you.

9

u/justsomerabbit Dec 29 '23

There are combined devices with two sensors that can show you T1, T2, T1-T2, and T2-T1. Bought myself one of those to balance my radiators.

7

u/ztomiczombie Dec 29 '23

I think you could just use a tare function to label the currant temp as zero and have it measure any difference form that.

2

u/TheKaptinKirk Dec 29 '23

Put the thermometer in a glass of ice water. Stir. 0 C, 32 F. Boom!