Oct 14, 2013

first fire in the stove

Perhaps the best thing about autumn -- when we get the wood stove going.


Peter leans over stove-top thermometer:  "It's about 360 degrees."

A minute later:  "This room is about two-thirds the temperature of the stove."

"Huh?"  (HA --  He's wrong this time!)  "But Peter, that would mean this room was 240 degrees."

"No, I mean from absolute zero."

"Hm.  Oh.  Um...[reluctantly] what's absolute zero?"

"About negative 460 degrees.  Absolute zero is when the atoms aren't moving at all."

"Hum."  (I'm silent for about three minutes, doing the mental math.)  Then, grudgingly, "I guess you're right."

2 comments:

  1. UnknownOctober 14, 2013 at 5:47 PM

    This is much more easily figured on the Kelvin scale, you know. Did he really tell you all that though?

    ReplyDelete
  2. D. MarieOctober 25, 2013 at 12:43 PM

    haha, when little brothers are right . . . sigh. ;)

    ReplyDelete

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