Re: Metric Time (was Re: Why not 13 months? (Was La Systeme Metrique))
Alan Braggins (armb@setanta.demon.co.uk)
Mon, 16 Oct 1995 10:16:05 GMT
In article <45ku8c$cjs@hermes.cair.du.edu> ruhl@phoebe.cair.du.edu (Robert A. Uhl) writes:
> I could. It was done at one time. The problem is that the units
> are no longer taught. I bet that a foot-pound is one pound applied
> over a square foot, although I'm not sure. Units in physics really
> don't matter; I could do physics in any units imaginable.
You don't think being able to tell the difference between torque
(foot-pounds) and pressure (pounds per square foot) might be useful?
> And horsepower is only used for engines, like candlepower is for
> lightbulbs.
And BTU is only used for heat supplied by gas burners. So if you want
to work out what size engine you need to run a generator to replace
a burner, you need three different units for power.
> Horsepower is the pulling power of one horse.
Except of course that it isn't. It was a deliberate underestimate.
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