• FelixCress@lemmy.world
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    3 months 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)

    • saigot@lemmy.ca
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      3 months ago

      Unfortunately converting 1 calorie to joules ruins everything 4.2J per calorie. Makes it annoying to calculate how quickly you can boil water for instance.

    • lugal@sopuli.xyz
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      3 months ago

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

      Is that something people wonder about? I doubt it.