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  • The british are awesome!

  • @DarkStormLee yes we are

  • Math!

  • Celsius is just a superior system to farenheit. America is the only country that uses farenheit.

  • @ProtestantsRUs No, it's not, seeing as they use it in this video and they're not American...

  • @Redheadfury

    English people, as said in the video, only use it for summers 95% of the time we use celsius but america uses farenheit MUCH more than english ppl do =D

  • @XxSaltandSugarxX Depends who you're talking to.

  • Triple point is actually 0.01 and he got points deducted a series later

  • my chem teacher said that pure water would boil at -72 c or sumthin like that. wonderin if hes right or not, someone respond plz

  • @beastological he was trolling, must be

  • @beastological If that c stands for celsius, then your chem teacher should retake his kindergarden courses :facepalm:

  • @grayishjedi well it could be me remembering wrong (which is probably true) but he said water boils at a lower temp when its pure or somethin like that. i'm not a genious (obviously) but i can see how it makes sense

  • @beastological naturally if the temperature lowers to minus 72 C then the water would freeze. You can however make ice sublimate (solid to vapor) at minus 72 C if you lower the pressure to less than 1 Pa or roughly 9.8×10^-6 atmospheres (0.0000098 atm). also standard pressure is 1 atm or 101.3 kPa.

  • dara is correct, who said you cant have vapour at less than 100 degrees celsius? and he made me laugh when he said "where the fuck is that gonna come in?"

  • degrees ??? you mean celsius ? ssaying 100 degrees is just lazy

  • @weatherallc05 In the UK we only use Celsius.

  • @MrSouthernNorthener shame lol i like to use fahrenheit. i can convert myself:)

  • @MrSouthernNorthener depends how old you are. I'm 22 and only use celcius but my 55 year old dad still uses farenheit. Just like with imperial and metric measurements, it all depends on how old you are in the UK.

  • 1-2 minus C is cold? No! Minus fucking 30, that's cold bitching weather xD Trust me, I was like. Mum! I'm off ice skating on the lake! (Opened the door) Crap it's cold, should probably get a jacket or something xP

    I live in the north of Sweden -.-' like real north, not just north, but like.... North North xD

  • Britain is the island.

  • the temperature at which water boils depends on the pressure

  • nostephen that would be the english that do that up in scotland we say everything in celseus cos we dont like to exaggerate our postion lol

  • But being serious for a moment (and I know I could look this up but I'm sure someone would love the opportunity to tell me) I know England is a country, but what is Britain, or the United Kingdom for that matter? What do you call a collection of countries like that?

  • @Elheru42 The United Kingdom is basically a Union of several countries, England, Scotland, Wales, and northern Ireland. Historically speaking, England conquered Wales, and I think due to different monarchies marrying into each other, Scotland and Ireland (Later northern Ireland) essentially combined with England under a single crown.

    Britain and the United Kingdom are basically the same thing. Terms used to describe this collection of nations.

  • Oh good, thank you for that. I felt something was incredibly disturbed in my soul. I was restless and seemed to have developed a severe twitch in my eye. Last night I went to bed but kept thinking that the world was slightly off alignment and something disastrous would befall me. And here I find out today that I had said Britain was a country. Thank you for putting that to rest, everything is right in the world again.

  • The British are incredibly inconsistent with measurement. I'm sure it must drive many people in Britain completely crazy the way the country has never decided whether they are imperial or metric.

  • @Elheru42 Britain isn't a country.

  • Anyone else get commercials about bottled water with this vid?

  • @Tarnaggy

    or commercials about bidets

  • Damn that girls 92 degrees Fahrenheit...

  • Fahrenheit is just rubbish isn't it. Yeah, yeah? For goodness sake just stop using it. :-)

  • @jwheat65 I like Farenheit. It is a much better word and scores more in Scrabble.

  • @JohnS1704 :-)

  • @JohnS1704 But only if you spell it correct ;)

  • @patatje You have obviously never played Scrabble with my friends.

  • @jwheat65 Personally, I prefer to measure temperatures in Rankines.

  • @jwheat65 Personally, I prefer to measure temperatures in Rankines.

  • @ProjectFreeSelf A Fahrenheit version of Kelvin?? *facepalm* Geez...

  • He thinks -3 is cold?! The man has obviously never lived in Canada!

  • Since we do we use Fahrenheit in Britain? I've never hear anybody say "it's 90 degrees outside".

  • @lpden i don't know about now cos i don't live there anymore, but they used to always use both in the weather forecast, and automatically i did the same thing... think in celsius for cold weather and fahrenheit (thanks for spelling that for me) for hot. i thought i was the only one but apparently not!

  • haha alan is heaps cute

  • Indeed changes in pressure can change the boiling point of water, the same principle is applied in pressure cookers and I believe the boiling point of water on Mt.Everest is 69 °C due to the decrease in pressure. PV=nRT is one of the most fundamental gas laws that helps show this (increases in pressure is directly proportional to an increase in temperature so long as all other perimeters are a constant).

  • You can't look at strictly the point because 0 C is just too baffling to examine. You have to imagine it like a two way street. It's where rising temperatures make room for melting, cooling temperatures freeze, and there's an express lane for water vapor.

  • Hot water freezes faster than cold water.

  • and that's why we use Celsius.....

  • This is stupid the answer is very close to 100C at standard pressure or 99.97C. Any physicist would tell you that is the answer. As a physics student it bothers me that a TV show that I normally like would go about and tell people lies about the boiling point of water.

  • @RafnHeimiss Let me ask you a question. Outside the world of physics, who cares if water does not boil at 100C but rather 0.3C lower? I will answer that for you.. It is 0.

    You are right of course. Water boils at 99.7C. So next time, for example, your mother says to boil water at 100C. Tell her that she is being stupid. It boils at 99.7C and it can't possibly go to 100C unless the van der waals forces that hold the hydrogen and oxygen ions together have been overcome, causing a change of state.

  • @THX43110 You totally misunderstood me, I think the show is being stupid saying that 100C is not the right answer. Also it's quite possible that it would go a little above 100 or a little below, even at sea level, because the pressure around us varies on daily basis. When would someone ask someone else to boil water at 100C? Boiling usually does not need a thermometer to be recognized.

  • Water freezes at the same temperature as Ice melts.

  • hang on, if 100 was the wrong answer, what's the correct answer? 0?

  • you guys are going on about water? you should take a peek at chocolate.

  • Water can boil at any temperature you like. It depends on the air pressure. In the vacuum of space, for example, your body temperature would cause your blood to boil off into space, whereas at the bottom of the oceans, liquid water exists near volcanic vents withut boiling at temperatures of more than 400C. You can boil a flask of water by holding it in your hand, if you have a vacuum pump handy (and I could come and do it on your show if you'd like to see it) Bill Dixon

  • @tallbillbassman but if the air pressure is significantly lower than atmospheric pressure, then technically, its not boiling...the pressure is just lower, so its just...depressurizing...

  • I always thought that 99.9% of youtube users who comment are the saddest most pathetic people on the planet.... till I started watching QI clips and realised it's 99.8% - you boffins lol. knowledge is power

  • Comment removed

  • Triple point is a point at given temperature AND pressure at which three phases coexist. For the triple point of water (gas/liquid/solid) this temperature and pressure are approximately 0 °C and 611,73 Pa (0,006 atm). Not to mention the fact that water has multiple triple points.

    And the babbling about 0 °C not being the point at which water freezes is also rubbish, because it IS exactly that. It's the temperature (at 1 atm.) at which the liquid and regular ice can coexist. (goes both ways)

  • @Mieljean Isn't it like ice's temperature will rise until it gets to 0c, stay at 0 til it's in a liquid state, go up to 100c, stay at that til it's steam, then go up from there, and vice versa?

  • @SystelCyrus That would be the shorter version of the point I was trying to make, yes :)

  • @Mieljean Science RULES.

  • @Mieljean

    Show off.

  • @Mieljean so

  • @Mieljean everything is relative, my friend ;)

  • @Mieljean i the triple point of water was rubbish, but i think originally it was meant to be aimed at all the different units in use. if he'd originally said "100°C" instead of just "100°" he'd got the point.

  • anyone notice that if they did it the other way around, they'd be more or less the same number?

  • No one in the UK uses farenheit it's always celcius.

  • @360cbh Well, we don't. I do exactly what Stephen said we do, which is use fahrenheit when it's hot and celsius when it's cold.

  • @itsazy Most people dont. The weather is reported in celcius, most people just use celcius.

  • Actually Dara the triple point of water is : 0.6117

  • All very academic.

    I have gradually come to use Celcius having moved from Farenheit to centigrade over some 40 years!

    So why do we talk of miles per gallon when petrol is sold by the litre? And what with that 0.9P on the end of every petrol price, surely its not legal.

  • HE GOT POINTS FOR THAT??!!?

    I'm writing in

  • @LoopMarine make it a strongly worded letter :-)

  • Hang on Dara, triple point is 0.01 right?

  • @FloormanUK it was actually changed after dara left school, so he remembers it correctly, it's just changed since

  • @gnackattack

    oh...really? So in the other episode he got points deducted for being out of date?

  • @FloormanUK basically yeah - r7SOLBuy8HI is the video where it happens

  • @FloormanUK GET A GRIP

  • @sam8110

    That's a bit strong isn't it?

  • @FloormanUK It's very annoying when people correct ridiculous things like that. Its tedious. It's a comedy show.

  • @sam8110

    If its so annoying then why are you having a go at me? Surely you could've saved yourself the time (and obviously the stress) of telling me not to correct something if its so annoying?

  • @FloormanUK get a grip took all of 10 seconds to write and didn't stress me out in the slightest... not sure why you think it would. If you don't want a reply, don't comment?

  • @sam8110

    Who said I was asking for a reply? Look at all of the others here who have said the same thing....

  • @FloormanUK

    As he said in a later episode, he was rounding down :)

  • @FloormanUK No? You missed what he meant. 

  • @MrRufusthethief

    What are you on about?

  • i thought triple point of water is 0.01 degrees celsius

  • @spit0flip You are correct in stating that, and QI realises it a little later on. The next time Dara is on (I forget which episode), he loses those points and gets a retrospective forfeit.

  • Fun fact: in Sweden water boils at 60c. They are kinda stupid that way.

  • 2 minute clip and a fucking 20 second commercial.

    Greedy pricks.

  • @TheBigEase Firefox with AdBlockPlus.

    I have not seen a commercial on YouTube in years.

  • @NamesForDogs thanks. Dutifully doing it's work right now ;)

  • @TheBigEase if it were me i would have atleast 40 seconds of commercial.

  • Regarding the debate about Celsius versus Fahrenheit - it's a case of "horses for courses". If you've grown up using one system, you're more likely to believe it's superior to the other. Fahrenheit is more granular and was specifically developed to reduce decimals; on the other hand Celsius sounds more logical for those familiar with metric, as the reference points (based on one of the most abundant molecules on earth) are 0 and 100. Incidentally F dates from 1724 and C from 1744.

  • in kelvin or celcius??? or fahrenheit

  • @bestyboi90 They're referring to celsius.

  • If I get a UTube Ad I click away...

  • love Stephen Fry - "oh very good, you MUST have some points for that and THIS round of applause..."

    *APPLAUSE*

  • ... and then we found out he was wrong.

  • I had no idea the British used Fahrenheit at all! :O The things you learn on this show are fabulous... :D

  • @PianoWizzy we dont really its just what news papers use to make us think its hotter than it is.... also outside swimming pools

  • @PianoWizzy we barely do

  • @PianoWizzy we don't. at all. it was a joke (not a very good one)

  • sooo, whats the answer? he never actually answers the question?

  • is there a diferance in points lost/receved between simply getting a wrong anwser and get the wrong awnser that makes the lights flash

  • @celestialsalamander The flashing lights means that the answer was both obvious and wrong which is when they deduct points . You don't lose points for answers that are just wrong .

  • in Denver it boils at 94C cause we are at about .8 atm

  • I didn't know British people used Fahrenheit at all (even though its the superior system) why do I have to keep converting Celsius for you people?

  • @giponygirl you dont douchebad we use both

  • @catfacetheoriginal yes i do? I wasn't speaking like i might have to do it, I was speaking like I do do it. People always ask me what the temperature is in fahrenheit. my ex was british and I had to translate 100F like 40 times. fahrenheit is the superior one. its more accurate and less ambiguous without involving multiple decimal places, so idk why you would call me a douchebad.

  • @giponygirl I think it depends on he age of the person. Britain went metric in the 70's. I grow up about that time and so I am more comfortable using Celsius. Older people are stuck with Fahrenheit.

  • @psfree40b Not really. Britain went semi-metric and now has some weird hybrid system of measurement depending on what it is you're measuring.

  • @limetang My point was with Stephen Fry saying that we (Brits) use Celsius for the cold and Fahrenheit for hot days, but I don't. The reason being that he is older than me. When I went through school it was Celsius and centimetres. For him, Fahrenheit and inches. It's the same in factories, my first job was in a place that started in the 50's, everything was inches. Now the newer ones I work in, it's all millimetres.

  • @psfree40b I think it generaly depends on mood rather than age alone. I grew up learning celsius and meters/km etc. but generaly use hybrids of measuring things in feet, meters or miles depending on length. I think his point is valid that people use those temperatures as fahrenheit sounds more impressive when it's hot, and celsius when it's cold.

  • @giponygirl Lol Fahrenheit is superior. You obviously aren't a scientist. The SI system is far superior to the imperial scale, it is much easier to do complex calculations with SI.  Sure, expressing idioms and the weather is more often done in F in the US, but for everything else, SI is better. Also, Fahrenheit is a pretty arbitrary scale... 0 degrees F is "A cold winter night." lol wut. Why do you think all scientists and engineers use Celsius (and Kelvin)? It's better.

  • @tanmaniac youre obviously an idiot. celsius is not part of the SI system. kelvin only uses celsius because celsius was the more popular degree scale. fahrenheit is more precise. just because its used by europe doesn't make it SI. idiot. scientists use celsius because its more popular.

    theres a little jingle insulting the stupidity of celsius. 0's freezing 10 is not 20's normal 30's hot.

  • @giponygirl Oh god I looked back at what I said this morning and realized how retarded I was. Of course Celsius isn't SI, Kelvin is. Sorry, I was recovering from staying up for 60 straight hours working on Calculus and chem and APUSH homework (and going to school). Sincerest apologies, I'm usually not so stupid.

  • @tanmaniac You're sure you don't want to suck his dick as a punishment?

  • @giponygirl "just because its used by europe doesn't make it".

    It's actually used by the entire world except the United States. Just like the metric system, actually. But an uneducated and xenophobic American like you couldn't know that.

  • @Saruman38 that quote is taken out of context. i was calling him xenophobic by saying that all american systems of measurement are automatically inferior to those used by the majority. i did know that it's used by the majority of the world. it isn't the entire world. i believe burma used fahrenheit still.

    why do you have to be a dick? seriously? are you incapable of just saying why you disagree instead of a huge list of unsubstantiated insults? be a gentleman.

  • @giponygirl Fahrenheit is inferior, as are all non decimalised units of measurement A degree on the Fahrenheit scale is 1⁄180 of the interval between the freezing point and the boiling point. and it takes the body temperature of a horse as a point of reference 96f(this is stupid). water is one of the most abundant and fundamental recognizable compounds in the universe, defining its triple point as zero, is genius kelvin represents a better option than either but Fahrenheit is miles behind both.

  • @1qaz6yhn5tgb Kelvin is based on Celsius. Rankine is based on Fahrenheit. The only reason Kelvin was chosen was because Celsius was already the most popular. We aren't talking about scientific scales, I agree that one that starts at absolute zero makes more sense. He was attempting to make a medical scale with the human body as 100, but he failed and didn't try to fix it. His zero was based on the coldest it could be observed to be outside. What it's based on is irrelevant, though.

  • @1qaz6yhn5tgb Both Celsius and Fahrenheit can be said to be decimal, I don't understand why you think Celsius is more decimal than Fahrenheit. You don't have kilodegrees, and even if you did, it could be applied the same to Fahrenheit. Water is very abundant, that's true. What you don't seem to understand is boiling points and freezing points are not static. Have you taken chemistry? It is all based on the pressure as well as the temperature, among other things.

    Celsius has a lower resolution.

  • @1qaz6yhn5tgb A degree on the Celsius scale can be said to be 1/101(+/-) of the interval between freezing and boiling. As we've already established, they change, so your cute little 0 100 thing is irrelevant. Besides, why the freezing and boiling? What makes those special? Because of the larger number of degrees between freezing and boiling, you can see that Fahrenheit has a higher "resolution" of temperature and is therefore more accurate. Fun Fact: Celsius started with 100 being freezing.

  • @1qaz6yhn5tgb Water is really not that fundamental. I would say carbon is more life-y. Why don't we have a temperature scale with carbon freezing under 1atm at 0 and boiling under 1atm at 100.

    Another thing, 100 is not decimalized. its centimalized. Why doesn't Celsius make 0 freezing and 10 boiling? Would that be as good? You can decimalize it by saying "it's 3.56 degrees, I'm so hot!" lol

  • @darris321 read the scifi novel "Calculating God" by Robert Sawyer. Many excellent conversations are found therein about the nature of life, including one that focuses on the uniqueness of WATER.

  • @simonjeste i'm sorry, but it seems a little incredulous that you tell me to read a scifi novel for science lol

  • @giponygirl sometimes a SciFi WRITER is also knowledgeable about Science.

    Do you think nothing science-wise can be learned from Carl Sagan's novel "Contact"? (very different from the movie, btw).

    Also Robert J Sawyer (author of Calculating God) is usually very good at learning about accurate science to include in his books. In CG the discussion about water is something unique, I'd recommend it just as food for thought. All I'm saying :rolleyes:

  • @Saruman38 also one more. one reason fahrenheit is good (besides the others i've listed) is because the creator didn't go in with a "choice of the boiling and freezing point of water" why water? what makes water so fantastic? why do you celsius defenders love water points so much? why not sodium? i'm sure one of the elements conforms more regularly to fahrenheit, does that mean fahrenheit is superior? no, that's a preposterous thing to defend. 32 and 212 are easy enough numbers also.

  • @giponygirl I don't really see why Farhenheit is the superior system. It's absolutely illogical in its choice of freezing and boiling points. But I guess you're just a retarded, self-centered, arrogant, ignorant and slightly xenophobic American. Oh, and by the way, why does 95% of the world has to keep converting metric (which is unquestionably superior to your stupid US measurements) for you yankees?

  • @Saruman38 freezing and boiling points is the ONLY thing that celsius has going for it. btw, that is ONLY on water and ONLY under 1 atm of pressure. l'm obviously not being that arrogant because i openly admit that the metric system kicks the shit out of the imperial system. so how about you quit being a douche. is it really that hard to remember 2 numbers? do you have so little faith in humanity that you think its difficult to remember 32 and 212? celsius is NOOOOT metric, retard.

  • @Saruman38 fahrenheit is the superior system because it is the more precise system. Celsius was invented with the intention of having water freeze at 0 and boil at 100. in my opinion, that is a horrible reason to say it is superior because its not even consistent. fahrenheit has more degrees between the freezing and boiling of water- the imperial system is bad because you have to use a lot of decimals for precision that is the exact same thing with celsius. in fahrenheit, that doesn't happen.

  • What was the original question? Was it: "at what temperature does water boil", or "at what temperature did Dr. Celsius decide water boiled"? If it's the first question, as indicated by the clip title, it was never properly answered.

  • what an idiot dara is. everyone knows it's not exactly zero.

  • @utdfortreble Maybe because we all saw the episode where we're told it's 0.01.

  • Has anyone else noticed the spirals on the walls are Fibonacci Spirals?

  • @iTmcb and the golden ratio is also on the wall (1+root5)/2 although you can't really see it on the quality here

  • @iTmcb Every minute of the day.

  • @iTmcb Yeah it's pretty obvious.

  • @iTmcb Wow man, did you notice the hair on Dara O'Briain's head??

  • He didn't say at which pressure...

  • @Samuelwhatshisface +1 for science

  • If u talk to some people in the usa and you ask them... what currency is used in the uk they'd reply and answer:.. what's a uk?

    No wonder they always keep asking me if i am german while i am from the Netherlands.

  • I didn't know that British used both Fahrenheit and Celsius. Is that true? I kind of like that because Fahrenheit I think is more useful for describing weather. 28 just sounds unimpressive.

  • @Setzer yes but centigrade is much more common. Farenheight is only really used in newspaper reports for very high temperatures in summer. You also sometimes (very rarely) hear of "degrees of frost" which is for cold temperatures and is the number of degrees farenheight below freezing (32 F). ie 26 F would be 6 degrees of frost.

  • @Setzer it's less true these days but 10 years ago it was very commonplace and most people over 45 still use both. Younger generation use Celsius exclusively.

  • @Setzer i'm not like that, i don't use fahrenheit at all.. but then again i'm only 21 and ive grew up with metric all my life

  • @stevendurr

    On the contrary, this show adresses what many assume to be well known basic facts and corrects them. Also, the whole point of it is not to be all "Oh, we're smarter than the rest". It's a comedy show, which happens to also be insightful. And if you fail to understand that it's your loss.

  • @stevendurr They are not basic facts at all, but the correction of commom misconceptions. Also, the panel is made up of British comediens - not smug British people. I have no idea where you get 'smug' from watching this - obviously there is a bit of a complex there! If you do not like British people then you probably should not watch a posting by the BBC.

  • @stevendurr Congratulations on your trolling

  • @stevendurr Retard.

  • the answer is it varies with atmospheric pressure. =]

  • @firestone334 Hehe

  • @firestone334 that's y i always get no mark...

  • @firestone334 I thought for a moment that you meant the triple point varied, and was about to jump down your throat, but then I remembered that that wasn't really the topic.

  • @firestone334 A bit slow on the uptake are we...?

  • @firestone334 and salinity

  • wait so what was the answer??

  • Specific heat capacity of liquid water is 4.18 KJ - that is basically all you need to know for water (know that and you are set for life)

  • They're right but only partially. Water only boils at 100c at nominal atmospheric pressure at sea level (1013 millibars). On a mountain top it boils below 100c as the ambient pressure is lower. In a car engine it boils above 100c as the cooling system pressure is higher (the cooling system is pressurized precisely to prevent boiling, even up to 110c or so). That's why a cup of tea made on a beach tastes better than on Snowdon, except that it doesn't because on Snowdon you appreciate it more!

  • I live in Britain and can confirm we do use F in summer and C in winter.

  • alan seems like an older version of ben from outnumbered!

  • @milllybob  I thought the exact same thing the other day! :)

  • Stephen is wrong, water freezes and melts at the same exact temperature. If you keep water at perfectly at that point the molecules will constantly be shifting.

  • @porgy29 "Stephen is wrong, water freezes and melts at the same exact temperature."

    .

    It is more accurate to say ice melts at zero than to say water freezes.

    .

    Water can freeze at zero but it does not consistently form visible crystals at that temperature. Water can be supercooled to well below zero and remain liquid. So the liquid appearance is no sure indication of it's temperature.

    .

    Ice however, will always melt at zero degrees, which makes melting the more accurate indicator.

  • @Noisegator How dare you reply to a YouTube post with actual information?? If you let on about nucleation sites for freezing, you might as well spoil all of the magic beer freezing videos! Next you will be blabbing about super-heated water and "bumping" or "explosive boiling." Sheesh.

  • When people try to compare the US to their country why do they always have to say things like "Asia", "UK", "EU" or the "Middle East". They never actually try to compare just their single country to our single country, they always have to involve other countries.. Why is that?..

  • @SmokeyCough geography

  • @SmokeyCough the uk is in europe

  • @hermione1998 That's fine, "KiNPiN1835" is the one that wrote "UK>US" as if it's one nation competing against one nation.

  • @SmokeyCough It might be to do with Geography but come to think of it,the US has all those Nations in the country.A lot of the people in the US cannot be 'pure blood Californians'&all that because the natives are the Native Americans/'Red Indians'.The US has always been compared with countries and always will do.People can be brought up to say one country/nation is better. It's just preference. And this is coming from a very proud British person. :). It's mainly got to do with history and geo.

  • LIAR

    Triple point of water is 0.01.

  • @RooAndHerbs they correct it on the next episode the clip is on here somwhere

  • @RooAndHerbs they did a retraction in a later season! lol///