From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!eagle!karn Newsgroups: net.followup Title: Re: Scientific unit equivalent to insulation R-values Article-I.D.: eagle.711 Posted: Fri Jan 7 16:53:18 1983 Received: Sat Jan 8 04:59:39 1983 References: ihuxq.202 rocheste.376 The Farenheit values used in specifying insulation effectiveness refers to temperature DIFFERENCES between the two sides of the insulation, so it doesn't really matter that Farenheit is not an absolute scale. It would have been better, of course, to derive a metric unit specifying the temperature gradient in degrees Celsius (or Kelvin, same thing) to cause a 1 calorie/hour/square meter heat flow. I'm sure the rest of the world already uses such a unit. Phil Karn