Re: Metric Time (was Re: Why not 13 months? (Was La Systeme Metrique))

DaveHatunen (hatunen@netcom.com)
Tue, 10 Oct 1995 19:25:51 GMT

In article <45e87v$8mj@minerva.worldbank.org>,
Robert McGee <rmcgee@worldbank.org> wrote:
>In article <DG6Bnw.K8w@polo.demon.co.uk>, john@polo.demon.co.uk (John Winters) says:
>>
>[snipped a Drama in Real Life (tm) about the hazards of buying berries
>by the pint]
>>
>>Me, I'm broadly in favour of the metric system but I can't let that
>>one pass. Your problem here was converting from a volumetric
>>measurement to a weight measurement, which would have been just as hard
>>in a metric system.
>
>Not at all. A liter (volumetric) is exactly 1000 cubic centimeters
>(linear). And one cc of pure water weighs approximately one gram.

Not true. Historically the liter was slightly different from 1000 ccm,
although not intended to be so. This awkward fact is one of the reasons
the liter is not part of SI.

>>Do *you* know how many litres of strawberries there
>>are to the kilo?
>
>Assuming that a strawberry's density is close to that of water, a
>kilo of tightly-packed strawberries would fill about a liter.

By assuming things, one may derive all kinds of convenient answers. For
instance, by "tightly-packed" you apparently mean a condition
strawberries are rarely found in (except in jam, perhaps). And how
close is "close to water"? When one uses "close to", one is also
permitted to make calculations using the fact that 1 fl oz (US) of
water weighs "close to" 1 oz avoirdupois.

>>Nor do I. And if you can't remember how many pints
>>there are in a quart, you're not much likelier to remember how many
>>centimetres there are in a metre.
>
>Every USAan (and every Canadian, New Zealander, Australian, Jamaican,
>Zimbabwean, etc.) could tell you that a hundredth part of a dollar
>is a cent.
>
>On the other hand, the only way I can convert volume and weight
>measurements in the U.S. system is to change everything to Tablespoons,
>recalling that there are 8 Tsp. in a stick of butter, which come four
>to a one-pound package.

That's also a "close to" that is good enough for cooking, but not for
real measurements.

8 Tsp is equal to 4 fl oz (US), not 4 oz adp. And since butter floats,
it is patently obvious that 4 fl oz of butter must weigh less than 4 fl
oz of water.

-- 





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