Request for metric values in explanations.

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Expand view Topic review: Request for metric values in explanations.

by orin stepanek » Wed Jul 25, 2007 12:51 pm

The question is which system do I use. Well naturally being American I have been using the Imperial system. I like the fact that in the metric system everything is divisible and multipliable by ten; but, darn I hate it that the kilometer is so much smaller than the mile. :) A 100 kph seems so fast yet it's just over 62 mph. Life would be a lot simpler if everything were the same though. :shock:
Orin

by Andy Wade » Tue Jul 24, 2007 7:38 am

BMAONE23 wrote:The only real reason the the US would convert is if the retail sector could hide massive price increases in the change in units.
Lol! :lol:
Thats exactly what they did here on 'Treasure Island' back in 1971.
We get ripped off in every possible way.
I think it's just a matter of time for America.

by BMAONE23 » Mon Jul 23, 2007 9:20 pm

The only real reason the the US would convert is if the retail sector could hide massive price increases in the change in units.

by Orca » Mon Jul 23, 2007 7:30 pm

DavidLeeds wrote:Inches, feet, yards, metres (meters in the US), light years, parsecs.... It seems that nobody uses such as perches/poles, furlongs, chains anymore. :lol:
Well, we can always start measuring velocity in furlongs per fortnight...

I had a math instructor that would say things like this: "you can use either system of measurement; metric or primitive."

My two cents: scientists generally use the metric system; since APOD is a science-based site it seems only logical to me that metric units should be used.

Besides the U.S. will convert to the metric system any day now... :P

by makc » Fri Jul 20, 2007 2:48 pm

since in that imaginary situation laws of physics do not apply, we might aswel pretend that light suddenly changes direction at the edge, and so evade problematic situation.

is event horizon an edge?

by BMAONE23 » Fri Jul 20, 2007 1:59 pm

Perhaps, If there is an edge, the light (photons) force the expansion as they travel along

by jimmysnyder » Fri Jul 20, 2007 1:24 pm

DavidLeeds wrote:what happens to all the light when it meets the edge of the Universe.
This is the edge.

by DavidLeodis » Fri Jul 20, 2007 10:33 am

Inches, feet, yards, metres (meters in the US), light years, parsecs.... It seems that nobody uses such as perches/poles, furlongs, chains anymore. :lol:

Ah well, a flagon of ale will do me nicely right now. Cheers all. :D

Incidentally, what happens to all the light when it meets the edge of the Universe or is that expanding quicker than the speed of light so it will not happen (until the Universe ever starts contracting). Wow, deep thought! I really do need that flagon now. :)

by makc » Thu Jul 19, 2007 2:27 pm

by Keldor314 » Thu Jul 19, 2007 10:15 am

And to make things even more muddy, we have 360 degrees, with 60 minutes per degree and 60 seconds per minute. This means that every minute, the sun moves 15 minutes across the sky. Or put another way, it moves a minute every 4 seconds.

Re: Request for metric values in explanations.

by AZJames » Thu Jul 19, 2007 8:17 am

toejam wrote:Face it.
It's the USA's last link with real culture & civilisation. :D :shock: Why else would you hang on so to a complicated system like that?

Personally I still talk about pounds, shillings & pence, (& florins ie two-bob pieces, half-crowns ie "two-and-a-kick", & Aberdeen half-croons ie the old octagonal 3d pieces).
Oh! Low blow! :lol:
Just to confuse the issue, the US Navy and Air Force and all civilian pilots use the nautical mile as a unit of measure (and velocity; ie, knots).

Now, it turns out that a nautical mile = 1,852 meters, exactly. :wink:

by makc » Mon Jul 02, 2007 5:38 pm

According to wiki, The most commonly used yard today is the international yard which by definition is equal to 0.9144 metre. But who will trust wiki, any way? The point was, that in 1983, the SI unit of length (meter) was derived from unit of time, while before that it was one of primaries.

by BMAONE23 » Mon Jul 02, 2007 1:57 pm

And I believe that the Yard is the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/327,360,000 of a second. :D :wink:

Re: Request for metric values in explanations.

by makc » Sun Jul 01, 2007 3:01 pm

iamlucky13 wrote: 300,000 ton -- 272 million kg -- 359,000 Volkswagon Beetles
...
9 miles across -- 14 km -- 3431 Volkswagon Beetles
Seing how they united the measures of length and time in SI'83*, your system opens even wider perspective to unite the measures of length and mass.

*The metre is the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second.

Re: Request for metric values in explanations.

by toejam » Sat Jun 30, 2007 6:07 pm

AZJames wrote:
iamlucky13 wrote: one mile -- 1.6 km -- 4.94 Eiffel Towers
570 feet -- 175 m -- 190 shoelaces
300,000 ton -- 272 million kg -- 359,000 Volkswagon Beetles
130 feet -- 40 m -- 130 breadboxes
26,000 miles per hour -- 41,839 km/h -- 19.3 times the Concorde
9 miles across -- 14 km -- 3431 Volkswagon Beetles
Laughed so hard I about fell out of my chair!

As you might surmise from my moniker, my location is the USA, state of Arizona, but I claim Scottish as part of my ancestry. Therefore, I'm thinking that weights in 'Stones' ought to be included in parentheses! 8)

My point is that any number of exotic systems of weights & measures may be included under the category "Other", and those users may be justified in asking for equal time (as it were) once the door is opened to include anything in parentheses.

btw, my vote was for "Imperial", whatever that is! :lol:
IMPERIAL because invented by the Brits to use in their Empire.

Face it.
It's the USA's last link with real culture & civilisation. :D :shock: Why else would you hang on so to a complicated system like that?

Personally I still talk about pounds, shillings & pence, (& florins ie two-bob pieces, half-crowns ie "two-and-a-kick", & Aberdeen half-croons ie the old octagonal 3d pieces).

Re: Request for metric values in explanations.

by AZJames » Thu Jun 28, 2007 1:25 am

iamlucky13 wrote: one mile -- 1.6 km -- 4.94 Eiffel Towers
570 feet -- 175 m -- 190 shoelaces
300,000 ton -- 272 million kg -- 359,000 Volkswagon Beetles
130 feet -- 40 m -- 130 breadboxes
26,000 miles per hour -- 41,839 km/h -- 19.3 times the Concorde
9 miles across -- 14 km -- 3431 Volkswagon Beetles
Laughed so hard I about fell out of my chair!

As you might surmise from my moniker, my location is the USA, state of Arizona, but I claim Scottish as part of my ancestry. Therefore, I'm thinking that weights in 'Stones' ought to be included in parentheses! 8)

My point is that any number of exotic systems of weights & measures may be included under the category "Other", and those users may be justified in asking for equal time (as it were) once the door is opened to include anything in parentheses.

btw, my vote was for "Imperial", whatever that is! :lol:

by BMAONE23 » Wed Jun 27, 2007 2:05 pm

I was afraid that I might be the only "IMPERIAL" voter for a while,
I think that both should be used since APOD and the Internet itself is world wide.

by jimmysnyder » Wed Jun 27, 2007 12:42 pm

I voted for Imperial. When I read that a light year is 9,460,730,472,580.8 km, it's a pain to have to convert that to miles just so I can visualize it better.

by craterchains » Wed Jun 27, 2007 8:58 am

OTHER

by l3p3r » Wed Jun 27, 2007 6:12 am

The default should be metric units. Surely!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:SI-m ... -world.png

by l3p3r » Tue Jun 26, 2007 3:19 pm

Nice one :)

Re: Request for metric values in explanations.

by iamlucky13 » Mon Jun 25, 2007 8:29 pm

Andy Wade wrote:Well yes.

But APOD is aimed at everyone.
And a lot of people viewing APOD don't use metric at all.
To restrict it to metric only (or just imperial for that matter) limits the understanding that APOD is trying to foster.
Darned right...let's use intuitive units that everyone can understand:

one mile -- 1.6 km -- 4.94 Eiffel Towers
570 feet -- 175 m -- 190 shoelaces
300,000 ton -- 272 million kg -- 359,000 Volkswagon Beetles
130 feet -- 40 m -- 130 breadboxes
26,000 miles per hour -- 41,839 km/h -- 19.3 times the Concorde
9 miles across -- 14 km -- 3431 Volkswagon Beetles

Actually...aren't the captions written by quite a few different people? I don't know the editing process for the APOD's, although I gathered it was managed completely separately from nightskylive.

Regardless, if I had to pick just one, it would be metric because of international commonality. I can usually convert numbers in my head with enough accuracy to appreciate the gist of the caption.

by Andy Wade » Mon Jun 25, 2007 5:42 pm

makc wrote:btw, there's a great image in Case' link.
The Wikipedia page is quite an eye opener.
Although saying a country uses metric doesn't quite show the full story, as it doesn't say how much of the population of that country abide by their 'official position'. We're supposed to be fully metric in England, but as I said before, the population is still a little bit divided. I think we're going to have to wait until my generation has all died out before we can say we're truly metric.
I voted for the 'other' option as there wasn't an option for 'Using both' :)

by makc » Mon Jun 25, 2007 5:27 am

btw, there's a great image in Case' link.

by makc » Mon Jun 25, 2007 5:15 am

Andy Wade wrote:Perhaps its time for a poll? Maybe not eh?..

Now our beloved Government is looking at taking away our 'pint' of beer (again). I'll have 500ml of beer please... :shock:
Hey, that's funny, but in Russia we had always zero-point-five beer standard. Onl recently they added .3 to the list, probably we drink less these days. And, poll would be great idea, btw; at least we would see some real data.

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