Most desired Sci-Fi Invention

[Nate the Great]

As a Minnesotan I'm a little disquieted that anyone would think that "average winter days" exist, at least in anything approaching a measurable sense. Maybe if you're just talking about raw temperatures.

Water is the base unit because it's the building block of the universe. The number of lifeforms that don't depend on water as a critial element of life is either zero or so close to zero that you might as well round down. Plus it's abundant and we can measure it's properties in repeatable experiments easily.

I'd look up the appropriate Asimov essay and quote passages, but the book's in my attic at the moment. A shame, really. Looking back at my previous story, I can already tell that there are holes in it.

[Derek]

Originally Posted by Infinite Improbability

Water is the base unit because it's the building block of the universe.

No, it isn't. It's a building block of Life, but not the Universe, and not everything.

Plus it's abundant and we can measure it's properties in repeatable experiments easily.

Many elements and compounds are abundant, and all are repeatable. Why water?

[Nate the Great]

Okay, but as it is Life that's calibrating the thermometers. I don't really see The Universe or Everything doing that stuff, do you?

I just noticed that the thread has a five-star rating. Even if that's the result of only one review, I appreciate the sentiment.

Not all experiments dealing with liquids and phase changes are equally easy to repeat. For example, for compounds with longer melting and boiling ranges, where do you cut off melting and boiling temperatures? The midpoint, the solid end of the scale, what? Early scientists had to deal with these questions.

Oh, and water is easy to get, easy to purify, easy to recover from a gaseous state, and so on. Think about it. Gold is more abundant than certain other metals (as I recall), it's just that a lot of it is locked up in low concentrations in water and other sources that require so much energy to extract that at this time it's de facto useless and out of reach.

[Gatac]

While I agree that there's countless vagaries in the Celsius scale (re: boiling point - what about the salt content of your water?), it is easier to reconstruct as it only requires a fairly common substance (water) going through two aggregate changes. If you want a scientifically solid scale, try Kelvin, which is fixed through absolute zero and the triple point of water.

To me, it's not a valid defense of Fahrenheit to say "Celsius is also whack!". Yes, it is, but Fahrenheit is the worse offender, and we should pick the lesser evil instead of wallowing in our temperature scale misery and sticking with what we have because it's all hopeless anyway, which is the vibe I'm getting here...

Gatac

[Nate the Great]

I don't see anyone defending Farenheit. I think that normal day-to-day temperatures are better represented in it, but that's another discussion.

After putting a little thought into it, I think the perfect temperature scale would be one that set zero at absolute zero, and had degree sizes such that the following temperatures were all nice round numbers:

1. Water freezes.
2. "Room Temperature." That's a discussion for another day, but there's lots of slosh allowed on this one.
3. Normal human body temperature.
4. Water boils.

It should be possible.