According to SI convention, the kelvin is never referred to nor written as a degree. The word “kelvin” is not capitalized when used as a unit. It may be in plural form as appropriate (for example, “it is 283 kelvins outside”, as for “it is 50 degrees Fahrenheit” and “10 degrees Celsius”).[5][63][64][65] The unit’s symbol K is a capital letter,[39] per the SI convention to capitalize symbols of units derived from the name of a person.[66] It is common convention to capitalize Kelvin when referring to Lord Kelvin[5] or the Kelvin scale.[67]

  • queerlilhayseed@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    291·
    2 days ago

    The SI convention can jump in a lake. K is too easy to confuse with the “kilo” suffix k, and the Kelvin was just a rebrand of the Celsius scale, which uses degrees, a convention so firmly intertwined with temperature measurements that in most contexts if you just say something is “X degrees” people will just assume are referring to degrees on a temperature scale (Fahrenheit or Celsius depending on where you live). Calling them degrees only increases the clarity of what you’re talking about in both written and spoken contexts; I’ve never encountered a downside other than dorks protesting that that’s not how it’s supposed to go. °K gang for life.

    • acockworkorange@mander.xyz
      3·
      1 day ago

      I was taught as degrees Kelvin in middle school, (as well as degrees Rankini). Only in high school it was changed. Not sure if it was a change in standard or a correction in teaching.

      • queerlilhayseed@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        4·
        1 day ago

        According to Wikipedia it was officially changed from “degrees Kelvin” to “kelvins” in 1967, so it’s possible you were seeing the change ripple out as they were made. I wonder how long it takes for decisions like that to get from a decision announcement from the CGPM to an update in textbooks that students use. Probably varies by income level.

    • becausechemistry@lemy.lol
      6·
      2 days ago

      dorks

      Some of us use the Kelvin scale on a nearly daily basis in our jobs that primarily focus on sweating the small details.

      • SatyrSack@quokk.auOPEnglish
        8·
        1 day ago

        jobs that primarily focus on sweating the small details

        Anyone with a job like that automatically qualifies as a “dork (complimentary)”

      • queerlilhayseed@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        2·
        2 days ago

        I use the term with affection, I think it’s that understanding of the importance of minutia to the shared understanding of complex topics that makes people engage on things like “K vs °K” in a serious way, and I think it’s a conversation worth having. I don’t use kelvins every day and I don’t really think I’m an expert, I think despite my last little joke I could be convinced that saying “degrees kelvin” does more to confuse than it does to clarify: I think there are good reasons to adhere to conventions in certain contexts, especially scientific ones, so I think the upset about “degrees kelvin” comes from a sincere place, I just haven’t seen any evidence to suggest that breaking the convention in this case causes any real confusion, and at least personally, using °K helps me distinguish kelvins from other uses of k or K suffixes or constants. So I guess it would be more accurate to say “°K gang for now given my understanding of the current body of evidence”, but I wanted to be snappy.

        • becausechemistry@lemy.lol
          2·
          1 day ago

          I understand you’re not coming from a place of malice. But consider that not understanding why something is important is not a great reason to consider it unimportant if, nearly universally, experts consider it important.

          • queerlilhayseed@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
            1·
            20 hours ago

            I don’t think it’s unimportant. I think clarity and disambiguation in communication are more important than strict adherence to a convention, and as far as I can tell °K was folded into K because the temperature interval °K is identical to the thermodynamic temperature K and the CGPM picked K because it more correctly conforms to the SI convention of single-letter unit designations. I get why they combined them, but considering that °K is (or was) exactly equal to K I prefer to use it to typographically distinguish it from other k-types in my writing, especially if I’m writing equations by hand. I’ve been reading up on the CGPM proceedings around defining the K and I think there are good pedagogical reasons not to use °K when introducing the concept of thermodynamic temperature to students because it isn’t a degree on a scale like Celsius, it’s a plain old base unit just like any other. It may be that I’m just old enough to have been indoctrinated into the °K school of thought and now it’s ingrained but in any case the visual distinction helps me and, since it is identical to K I don’t think it introduces any new confusion. I probably wouldn’t use it if I were teaching physics in high school but for my own use? °K all day.