2001-03-13 This is an interesting site. I found it in Machine Design magazine in a section on interesting web sites. It gives the history of (almost) every unit known to man. I copied the introduction section here to give you an idea on what the site is about. Introduction Americans probably use a greater variety of units of measurement than anyone else in the world. Caught in a slow-moving transition from customary to metric units, we employ a fascinating and sometimes frustrating mixture of units in talking about the same things. We measure the length of a race in meters, but the length of the long jump event in feet and inches. We speak of an engine's power in horsepower and its displacement in liters. In the same dispatch, we describe a hurricane's wind speed in knots and its central pressure in millibars. Furthermore, our English customary units do not form a consistent system. Reflecting their diverse roots in Celtic, Roman, Saxon, and Norse cultures, they are often confusing and contradictory. There are two systems for land measurement (one based on the yard and the other on the rod) and a third system for distances at sea. There are two systems (avoirdupois and troy) for small weights and two more (based on the long and short tons) for large weights. Americans use two systems for volumes (one for dry commodities and one for liquids) and the British use a third (British Imperial Measure). Meanwhile, only a few Americans know that the legal definitions of the English customary units are actually based on metric units. The U. S. and British governments have agreed that a yard equals exactly 0.9144 meter and an avoirdupois pound equals exactly 0.453 592 37 kilograms. In this way, all the units of measurement Americans use every day are based on the standards of the metric system. Since 1875, in fact, the United States has subscribed to the International System of Weights and Measures, the official version of the metric system. This dictionary began as a collection of notes describing the relationship between various English and metric units. It gradually grew until it finally became too large a word-processing document; I couldn't find my way around in it any more. So I turned it into a folder of html documents and added it to my Internet site. For many months, no one looked at the site except me and my students. Then, gradually, the dictionary began to attract users from around the world. Many users were kind enough to point out errors; others suggested additions and improvements. Questions about units began to appear in my email inbox. Sometimes I could answer the questions, sometimes not. Today the dictionary has become a kind of interactive resource. It grows slowly and steadily, mostly through suggestions from readers and my efforts to answer questions posed by readers. You can participate in this process! Please let me know if you find any errors on the site, or if you can't find what you wanted to know, or if you know of units used in your field of study or in your part of the world that aren't included. I hope you find the dictionary useful and informative. Click here to go to the site: http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/index.html John Keiner ist hoffnungsloser versklavt als derjenige, der irrtümlich glaubt frei zu sein. There are none more hopelessly enslaved then those who falsely believe they are free!
