the story of Standard Temperature

[Phil]

Ha! It is interesting to note that in the Systeme Internationale (used just about everywhere OTHER than the USA), 'standard' temperature is 298 kelvins or 25 degrees Celsius, since it is easier to maintain an accurate temperature slightly greater than 'ambient' than at 'ambient' (i.e. ca. 20 degC) itself. However, it's nice to see that in 1931 at least some effort was made to get the US to comprehend the concept of 'degrees Celcius'. As we know, it failed.

I do accept that it is more comfortable for most humans to measure dimensions at 20 degC than 25 degC, but I have to object to the use of the phrase "most measurements".

Phil M1GWZ



On 8 Nov 2015, at 16:37, Robert Seastrom wrote:

> 
> I suppose that we all largely take for granted the notion that 20c is "standard temperature" for most measurements.  But how did that come to be anyway?
> 
> A friend recently sent me this:  http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/jres/112/1/V112.N01.A01.pdf which may be of interest to the folks here.
> 
> -r