• @[email protected]
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    19 hours ago

    In metric, one milliliter of water occupies one cubic centimeter, weighs one gram, and requires one calorie of energy to heat up by one degree centigrade—which is 1 percent of the difference between its freezing point and its boiling point. An amount of hydrogen weighing the same amount has exactly one mole of atoms in it. Whereas in the American system, the answer to ‘How much energy does it take to boil a room-temperature gallon of water?’ is ‘Go fuck yourself,’ because you can’t directly relate any of those quantities. (John Bazell)

    • @[email protected]
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      319 hours ago

      ‘How much energy does it take to boil a room-temperature gallon of water?’

      Is that something people wonder about? I doubt it.

      • @iknowitwheniseeit
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        36 hours ago

        As someone with both solar panels and a water kettle I promise you this is something I frequently wonder about!

      • @[email protected]
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        318 hours ago

        A BTU (British thermal unit) is the energy required to raise 1lb of water 1 degree Fahrenheit…which may actually be even dumber, since it’s temperature sensitive to begin with. Dumbest of all, the Brits don’t use that unit very often. The US, and, I assume, Liberia use it all the time.