https://cosmosmagazine.com/mathemati...change-forever
One is forced to wonder if they will be redefining the DRS (Dumb Redneck System) units so commonly used on TV news and documentaries...
Length: 747 wingspans
Area: football fields
Volume: Olympic swimming pools
Mass: elephants
Electrical Power: volts
Couldn't resist!Quote:
Originally Posted by mklotz
https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/h...asurements.jpg
Speaking of dumb redneck measurements, The fresh fruit packing biz learned me to estimate area pretty quickly: mile(1760yds) X mile =640acres, 1/2(880yds) x mile=320, 1/2 x 1/2=160, 1/2x1/4(440yds)=80, 1/4x1/4=40, 1/8(220yds)x1/4=20, 1/8x1/8=10, 1/16(100yds)x1/8=5, 1/16x1/16=2.5, 1/16x1/32(55yds)=1.25. Thus a redneck's football field is a touch more than an acre.
They are wrong about the speed of light remaining constant in a vacuum light is effected by gravitational fields for one I think it was Feynman who lectured on the principals of light speed with varying time lapses
To quote Richard Feynman "...there is also an amplitude for light to go faster (or slower) than the conventional speed of light. You found out in the last lecture that light doesn't go only in straight lines; now, you find out that it doesn't go only at the speed of light! It may surprise you that there is an amplitude for a photon to go at speeds faster or slower than the conventional speed, c."
What this means to the redneck in me is that no matter who well defined some may think their unit of measurement is there will always be someone who will come along later or has previously debunked your absolutes.
I tried to concentrate on the article in the link provided but I continually distracted myself by wondering how many times dose this make it that the metric system has been 'realigned' while the Imperial system has remained unchanged since its standardization by the Anglo-Saxons in 1824. Yup, I know the metric yahoos out there will all start clamoring about the lack of relativity of the Imperial system based on the length of the king's aroused sex organ but it is as relevant, if not more so, than the origins of the metric system which was originally based on the length of one minute of arc of a great circle of the Earth (now called a nautical mile, 1852 meters) in 1670. Problem I have with that 'standard' is how was Frenchman Gabriel Mouton able to measure that arc? At least the length of the King's erection was a physical thing that actually had a measurable length.Quote:
Originally Posted by jonnydot
What say you metric yahoos out there?
Which side are you on, Jon?
The side of the pirates! :) How Pirates Stole the Metric System from AmericaQuote:
Originally Posted by nhengineer
Kinda big "touch"...Quote:
Originally Posted by neilbourjaily@gmail.com
(American) football field = 360 x 160 ft = 57,600 ft^2
Acre = 660 x 66 ft = 43,560 ft^2 = 75% of a football field
For the benefit of readers unfamiliar with ACS (American Customary Units)...
The definition of an acre is a classic example of the nonsense that went into defining ACS. An acre is the amount of land a man can plow in a day. This became standardized to be an area a furlong in length by a chain wide. A furlong is an eighth of a mile (5280 / 8 ft) or ten chains (10 * 66 ft). Thus an acre is ten square chains.
The chain itself is a little bundle of awkwardness. Used in surveying, it became necessary to divide the chain into smaller units. So the chain was divided into 100 links. 66 links might have made a modicum of sense but no, we now have a link that's 0.66 ft = 7.92 in long!
Frank S, you are obviously a clear thinker so please respond to my question regarding the speed of light that I have been asking every person of similar awareness as you for the last sixty years. That would be, the speed of light relative to what exactly? Nothing in the universe is stationary; therefore, the speed of light must be relative to the body emitting it. If that body is moving at, say 3,000 cubits per second relative to the nearest body of mass (which itself is also moving by the way), then the speed of the photons being emitted must be equal to their speed relative to the body emitting them added to the speed of the emitting body but only if the emitting body is moving in the opposite direction as the body of reference. I could carry that out quite a bit further but I save that of another time.Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank S
I used cubits as a unit of measure because it is defined as from 17-1/2" to 20-6/10" which is accurate enough for me.
Attachment 29725
So, they've went and applied more than a little dab of science, to the suddenly atavistic constants we've grown to love, but rarely pay attention to.
mklotz: (American) football field = 360 x 160 ft = 57,600 ft^2. Ooops! My bad. I have always thought the field was 100yards long by 50yards wide. No wonder I had trouble making those deep sideline passes! On my errored calculation it would have been a touch at 45000ft^2. My thinking considered only the area between the endzones, which is 48000ft^2
The good thing is, however, this gives us the opportunity to review the pizza effect of radius and/or width on increase in area. Afterall, 3 1/3 yds is only 10'. A 14" pizza is nearly half again as large as a 10" pizza.
Firstly: - It's unfortunately a common misconception that it has remained unchanged since 1824:Quote:
Originally Posted by nhengineer
Reading tip: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intern...yard_and_pound
The last line of the top paragraph might suffice.
Secondly: Exactly how could you find a "realignment" to be detrimental to any system of units at all,
if it weren't for a belief in one system of units being "sacrosanct, eternal, natural or intuitive"?
-Given that: - How does the Imperial system itself (or your beliefs thereof) "suffer" from the Metric revisions above?
Personally: In being a "relativist", I don't personally believe in any "eternal truths or values" -
rather mere temporary, ad hoc assumptions, only to be used until proven false or something more operational turns up.
Hence, a realignment (within the system's consistency) is only yet another improvement for its utility.
Sort of a systematic "evolution" - (but then that concept will probably open yet another can of worms).
Thus my suggested realignment of the article's title above...
But then - all of the above is just one of my temporary working theories in using our crude human models
for putting some causality and predictability into an utterly incomprehensible and chaotic universe and its inhabitants.
It has been demonstrated that the speed of light is a constant. Which, despite differences − demonstrated through various media, as well as the effects of gravity − means that speeds are not additive, with respect to the speed of light. A moving body will either compress or stretch wavelengths − in relation to an observer. Hence, the attendant red-shift, of a sources frequency is noted. The speed at which the wave is propagated, however, remains the same. It's how astronomers are able to tell whether stars are moving towards or away from us. And provides established evidence, for an expanding universe.Quote:
Originally Posted by nhengineer
Some further info on revisions to the Imperial systems since 1824:
not that any revision, per se, makes any system better or worse - but judge for yourself:
"Hence it was determined that the unit of length taken should be the ‘mil,’
and that the decimal system should be adopted for expressing dimensions."
These are the words of "the Small Screws Committee" (sic!) of the
British Association for the Advancement of Science in August 1882.
Info: 'mil' above meaning "thousandth of an inch" -
thus the use of "thou" and fractional measures is banned since August 1882.
Sources:
1st Report: https://www.sizes.com/library/technology/thread_BA1.htm
2nd Report: https://www.sizes.com/library/technology/thread_BA2.htm
Their take on "user friendliness" back then:
"the Committee alone is considering, not by any specific dimension, but by a number, which as a rule,
is arbitrarily chosen and does not of itself form a guide to the size of the screw." .
Thus the BA system has an angle of thread of 47,5 deg:
a #0 BA screw a diameter x pitch of 236 x 39,4 mil, ( M6 x 1 mm )
and a #20 BA only has a 19 x 4,7 mil, as each successive bigger # BA (but smaller) screw
has a pitch of 0.9 times the previous (lower # BA, but bigger screw).
Clear as mud?
Diameter explanation: "That the series of diameters for screws from 1/100th in. to ¼ in. be that given in millimetres in column V., the nearest thousandths of an inch being given in column II.; these diameters being the series calculated by making P, in the formula D = 6P6/5, having in succession the following values: 1 (or 0.90) mm.; 0.9¹ mm.; 0.9² mm.; 0.93 mm.; … 0.9n mm
Only two significant figures are taken to represent the diameters."
Pitch explanation:
"each pitch being 9/10ths of its predecessor, but that only two significant figures be used in their expression."
"Hence it was determined that the unit of length taken should be the ‘mil,’
and that the decimal system should be adopted for expressing dimensions."
Using 'mil' to mean thousandth (not thousand) of an inch is discouraged.
One has to be careful with 'mil' since it's one of the common terms for milliradians. an SI unit...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milliradian
Also the inferial artillery setters use it as an angular measure. However, to maintain the spirit of inferial confusion, they've "rounded" the 6283... milliradians in a circle to 6400. I suppose the (admittedly slight) error so induced is compensated with more explosive shells.
Well Scottie, respectfully I respond that you are merely re-quoting someone's theory that you read or heard. Yup, I know lots of research grant dollars were spent on the study of the speed of light but I'm not buying into that theory. I'm an independent thinker. It is not logically possible for the speed of light to be constant. I hope we both live long enough to find that I am right and that other guy was wrong.Quote:
Originally Posted by Scotsman Hosie
Furthermore; I don't buy into the theory that petroleum comes from long buried, rotted, dinosaur carcasses and tropical vegetation or that we all originated from middle Africa or that Venus was originally formed in our solar system. I could go on but I really like this forum.
Check with my friend Immanuel for more information.
I've also run into different fields using the same prefix for different things.Quote:
Originally Posted by mklotz
Example, PPM is Parts Per Million to a chemist, unless he's working with water systems then it's Parts Per Thousand. Took me a while to figure that out, couldn't figure out why anyone cared about 100 PPM of salts in water for aquaculture.
Also, that same M might also be used as m, uPpEr/lowEr case seems to be ignored by a lot of people.
Oh, and T might also be Thousand.
David - your purportedly respectful reply to Scottie is quite a claim from someone not even bothering himself to answer questions,Quote:
Originally Posted by nhengineer
post relevant and identified facts or some empirically qualified theories, though demanding that every else should do so.
And when somebody (including myself) does - you "refute" them by calling them "fanatics", or as merely re-quoting someone,
instead of putting in some relevant, qualified and identified facts and theories yourself.
For starters: Please explain those "petroleum, human and Venus origin" ideas of yours,
and then just go on proving that you haven't merely swallowed Mr Velikovskys theories with bait, hook and sinker yourself?
As you presume to be a "Man on a Mission", walking the lonesome path of yet another "independent thinker",
feel absolutely free to experience more of this independence than even you could've imagined!
I, for one, wish you godspeed.
cheers
Johan
Hi Johan, actually I did not 'call' anyone anything. I always try to speak in general terms so as to not offend any specific person; only everyone in general.Quote:
Originally Posted by DIYSwede
With reference to my refusing to answer questions, I believe I will continue to not do that.
Thank you for your interest.
Personally I don't give a f_ _ _ which system we use, but I do care about it being simple to work with. It is such a pain in the neck that 2.32558 "peckers" is a foot.
