Why Is 100°F a Heat Wave but Not Even a Fever?

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If a weather forecast says 100° F, that
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sounds scorching.
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Yet, if a thermometer under your tongue
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shows 100° F, that isn't even a fever.
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So, what's going on?
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The answer is in where Fahrenheit's
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numbers came from and how warm your body
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already is.
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In 1724, Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit
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published papers describing his
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thermometers.
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He built on an idea from an earlier
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scientist, Ole Rømer, who set zero at
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the temperature of a mixture of salt,
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water, and ice.
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On Rømer's scale, water froze at 7 and
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1/2 degrees and body temperature was 22
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and 1/2 degrees.
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Daniel Fahrenheit split each of Rømer's
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degrees into four smaller degrees, so
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every number became four times bigger.
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Freezing water moved to 30° and body
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temperature to 90.
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Later, he wanted body temperature to be
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96°
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so he made each degree slightly smaller.
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Freezing water moved up to 32°.
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Boiling water then came out at 212°.
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Nobody chose that number.
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Later still, scientists made freezing
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water and boiling water the two
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reference points, 180° apart. Normal
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body temperature was given as 98.6.
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No reference point was ever set at 100°
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F. That number just happens to land near
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body temperature.
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To change 98.6°
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F into Celsius, we subtract 32 then
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divide by 1.8. That gives 37° C.
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Your body temperature changes through
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the day, lowest in the early morning,
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highest in the late afternoon.
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100° F
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is only 1.4° above 98.6.
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Each Celsius degree corresponds to 1.8
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Fahrenheit degrees. So, that gap is 1.4
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divided by 1.8, less than 1° C.
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The CDC defines a fever as 100.4°
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F or higher. That's 38° C. So, a reading
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of 100° is just below the fever line.
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Using the same method, 100° F
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is about 37.8°
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C. You can check this with the
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Fahrenheit to Celsius converter on
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metricconversions.org.
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So, why does 100° weather feel so
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brutal? Your body is always making heat,
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and it needs to get rid of that heat.
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Heat flows from warmer things to cooler
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things. Air at 100° F is warmer than
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your body, so losing heat gets much
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harder.
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Takeaway: 100° F
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is just above normal body temperature.
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Inside your body, that's a small rise.
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Outside, it's very hot air.
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Temperatures, weights, distances, and
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more. You can convert them quickly and
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accurately on metricconversions.org.
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Just follow the link in the description
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below. If this helped, please like and
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subscribe. Is there anything else you'd
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like us to cover? Please let us know in
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the comments below.
3:57
>> Mhm.

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Why Is 100°F a Heat Wave but Not Even a Fever?

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