This site uses cookies. Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site, while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used. For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
Cookie settings
modules (in context)
personal effects and hairlooms

Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

30K less

English answer:

30 kelvins less (OR below OR lower)

Added to glossary by Angela Dickson (X)
May 24, 2005 13:51
18 yrs ago
English term

30K less

English Tech/Engineering Engineering (general)
Fan triggering
The fan switches independently of the heat sink temperature to full speed if the temperature rises above 250°C
If there are no other command signals from the heat sink temperature, the fan will switch off again at approx. 30K less.

K = speed? not kb
K = degrees?
if K is a variable, it is not defined in the text.

thank you very much
Responses
2 +5 K=Kelvin (degrees C)
5 +1 30 kelvins
3 nonsensical in this context? [not for grading]
2 Kelvin degrees
Change log

May 24, 2005 13:54: Kirill Semenov changed "Field (specific)" from "Other" to "Engineering (general)"

May 24, 2005 13:58: David Russi changed "Level" from "Non-PRO" to "PRO"

Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

PRO (3): Kirill Semenov, Angela Dickson (X), David Russi

When entering new questions, KudoZ askers are given an opportunity* to classify the difficulty of their questions as 'easy' or 'pro'. If you feel a question marked 'easy' should actually be marked 'pro', and if you have earned more than 20 KudoZ points, you can click the "Vote PRO" button to recommend that change.

How to tell the difference between "easy" and "pro" questions:

An easy question is one that any bilingual person would be able to answer correctly. (Or in the case of monolingual questions, an easy question is one that any native speaker of the language would be able to answer correctly.)

A pro question is anything else... in other words, any question that requires knowledge or skills that are specialized (even slightly).

Another way to think of the difficulty levels is this: an easy question is one that deals with everyday conversation. A pro question is anything else.

When deciding between easy and pro, err on the side of pro. Most questions will be pro.

* Note: non-member askers are not given the option of entering 'pro' questions; the only way for their questions to be classified as 'pro' is for a ProZ.com member or members to re-classify it.

Discussion

Tony M May 24, 2005:
Yes, I agree with Kirill: on at 250�C and off again at 220�C
Kirill Semenov May 24, 2005:
I think the text means the fan switches off at approximately 220�C
Non-ProZ.com (asker) May 24, 2005:
am rather confused about when it switches off If the temperature drops below 45�C, the fan is switched off.
Non-ProZ.com (asker) May 24, 2005:
thank you! so it's Kelvin it makes sense for it to switch off at 220�C - not at -240�C

"30 degrees less than 250 degrees C = 220 degrees C"

temperatures in text range from 45�C - 250�C, nothing at or below zero
Tony M May 24, 2005:
K is common as an abbreviation for 'degrees) Kelvin, and K are sometimes used in the specific context of describing a DIFFERENCE in temperature (cf. colour temperature in photography...) Plus 30 K is a logical enough value for temp. hysteresis

Responses

+5
4 mins
Selected

K=Kelvin (degrees C)

Just a guess - K is a temperature scale which corresponds to degrees C minus 273 - so 0 degrees K = -273 degrees C. (-273 is Absolute Zero, nothing can be colder than that).

It's strange to use both measures in the same sentence, though, so this may not be right.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 40 mins (2005-05-24 14:31:46 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Apparently \'kelvins\' is accepted usage, and I have also seen \'degrees Kelvin\'. Your choice.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 51 mins (2005-05-24 14:42:44 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

**** NB: \'kelvins\' is better.
Peer comment(s):
agree Tony M : I'm sure this is right // Both units are commonly used when referring in one case to an absolute temperature, and in the other, a temperature difference (exactly to avoid misunderstandings like this!) 30K less is NOT= -30°C!
1 min
agree jccantrell : Yes, too much science getting into engineering. I would go with this.
9 mins
agree nickele (X)
10 mins
agree Cilian O'Tuama : very likely IMO, and I agree it's strange to have both units
25 mins
agree Alfa Trans (X)
2 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "thank you very much! I think I will check with the client 220°C would make sense..."
2 mins

Kelvin degrees

I think it means 30 degrees less by Kelvin.
Peer comment(s):
neutral nickele (X) : just kelvin, but not "kelvin degrees"
12 mins
I'm not competing for the best wording here. I just said that K means Kelvin here.
Something went wrong...
+1
7 mins

30 kelvins

This is the correct usage of this terminology...

Web Results 1 - 10 of about 8,490 for "Kelvins" astronomy. (0.25 seconds)

Astronomy - Glossary
Astronomy.com, Astronomy Magazine, offers daily astronomy and space news, star
charts, pictures of planets, space missions, eclipse and much more.
www.astronomy.com/asy/default. aspx?c=glss&id=93&aid=774 - 28k - Cached - Similar pages

Astronomy - Big KBO got a face-lift - Robert Burnham
Astronomy.com, Astronomy Magazine, offers daily astronomy and space news, ...
But if ice forms at 110 kelvins, or is heated above that temperature, ...
www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=2644 - 35k - Cached - Similar pages

GoldenEssays - Astronomy - Free Essays, Free Research Papers, Free ...
... and has tempera- ture ranges from two hundred to two hundred ninety kelvins.
... rangesbetween one hundred eighty and two hundred fifty kelvins. ...
www.goldenessays.com/free_essays/ 1/astronomy/ozone-layer.shtml - 11k - Cached - Similar pages

Descriptive Astronomy Outline
... DESCRIPTIVE ASTRONOMY. I. Development of scientific theory from observations.
... 3. requires temps of at least 10 million Kelvins to overcome electric ...
www.as.wvu.edu/phys/littleton/astro_106/outline05.html - 16k - Cached - Similar pages

x-ray astronomy: Definition and Much More From Answers.com
x-ray astronomy n. The branch of astronomy that deals with the origin and nature of
... but very dilute gas at a temperature of 100 million kelvins. ...
www.answers.com/topic/x-ray-astronomy - 44k - Cached - Similar pages

X-ray astronomy. Everything you wanted to know about X-ray ...
... Everything you wanted to know about X-ray astronomy but had no clue how to
find it. ... but very dilute gas at a temperature of 100 million kelvins. ...
encyclopedia.lockergnome.com/s/b/X-ray_astronomy - 45k - Cached - Similar pages

X-ray astronomy - definition of X-ray astronomy in Encyclopedia
X-ray astronomy is an observational branch of astronomy, which deals with the
study of X-ray emission from celestial objects. X-ray radiation is absorbed by ...
encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/X-ray_astronomy - 25k - Cached - Similar pages

Encyclopedia: X-ray astronomy
... X-ray astronomy is an observational branch of astronomy, which deals with the
study of ... but very dillute gas at a temperature of 100 million kelvins. ...
www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/X_ray-astronomy - 27k - Cached - Similar pages

::Interactive Astronomy::
... NASA; ESA; Singapore Weather; Astronomy Now; Sky and Telescope; Senior's Web
... the object in metres and T is the temperature of the object in Kelvins. ...
library.thinkquest.org/04apr/ 00533/Astronomy%20Web%20Site/Stars12.htm - 16k - Cached - Similar pages

::Interactive Astronomy::
... Where is the wavelength of maximum emission of the object in metres and T is
the temperature of the object in Kelvins. Worked Example: ...
library.thinkquest.org/ 04apr/00533/Text-Only/Stars12.htm - 16k - Cached - Similar pages
Peer comment(s):
disagree Cilian O'Tuama : this is not "THE correct usage..." - "30 Kelvin" or "30 degrees Kelvin" (Kelvin singular in both cases) is more common
10 mins
agree David Sirett : There is the Kelvin scale, and the kelvin (symbol K) which is the unit of temperature. "Degree Kelvin" is obsolete usage, now deprecated. "30 Kelvin", meaning "30 degrees on the Kelvin scale", is not correct formal technical or scientific usage.
29 mins
agree Angela Dickson (X) : Fair enough. Terminology has changed since I was at school. The basic explanation still stands, however.
44 mins
Something went wrong...
1 hr

nonsensical in this context? [not for grading]

I'm sorry but this makes no sense to me as a reader (and an engineer, I am not).
As Angela has pointed out, 30K (if K stands for Kelvin) is MINUS 243 degrees Celsius. I cannot imagine how that fits in there as a temperature or as a difference in temperature.
It would make much more sense to me if it said "30°C less", i.e. 220°C. But then I'm not an engineer.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs 16 mins (2005-05-24 16:07:36 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

Right, so what I understand Dusty to mean is that 30K is not to be interpreted as a temperature that would be converted to minus 243 degrees Celsius or as a difference of 243 degrees Celsius, but what engineers understand by 30 K (Wikipedia says there should be a space between the number and the symbol!) is \"a difference of 30 degrees Celsius\". Well, that\'s a new one for me. Thank you, Dusty.
Peer comment(s):
neutral Angela Dickson (X) : that's not actually what I said - it's a *drop* of 30K - it does make sense when considered as a change from 250 degrees C.
31 mins
I'm not misreprenting what you said. My reference was to the first two paragraphs of your explanation and was indeed an acknowledgment. The rest is entirely my own befuddlement.
agree jrb : yes, I would guess that K is a mistake for C, or that there's some other mistake; it seems strange that they'd mix different scales
39 mins
That would be a rather holistic approach, wouldn't it? :-)) Thanks.
disagree Tony M : Yes, they DO mix both scales, see my comments above...
45 mins
Thanks. See my note.
neutral Kirill Semenov : as Dusty validly pointed out, Kelvins are often used to mark the temperature differences, not their absolute values
46 mins
Something went wrong...
Close search
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search