What's a calorie? I give them the energy content of the candy bar in joules and the going rates for electrical energy in cents per kilowatt hours. It's a simple as that, and yet it throws some of them.
Jim kilopascal wrote: > > 2002-03-07 > > It's the old trick of making something seem like more than it really is that > is the reason we have all of these units. Do you think the electric company > wants you to know that a joule of gas energy costs less than a joule of > electrical energy? Of course not! They want you to heat your house with > electrical energy. So, why do they want to make it easy for the consumer to > compare? > > And with autos, the use of the horse power makes it seem like your car has > more power then if they had to use kilowatts. > > I'm sure instructors in metric countries also have the same problem. Don't > forget, you still have the calorie and/or Calorie per minute and/or hour, > versus the metric horsepower (PS or CV) in addition to the watt. There > maybe more. Not everyone is using SI yet. > > John > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "James R. Frysinger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Cc: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Thursday, 2002-03-07 11:55 > Subject: [USMA:18601] Re: Metrication and goal setting > > > Duncan Bath wrote: > > > > > > This whole business of 'power' must be mystifying to members of the > > > general public. They read (or hear) of h.p., W, kW, Btu/hr and so on. > The > > > incentive to really come to grips with this technical stuff must be > pretty > > > well blunted from day 1. > > > Duncan > > > > I cannot sufficiently express how frustratingly difficult it is to > > teach students that the concept of power crosses into many areas: > > electrical, mechanical, thermal, etc. For American students, an obvious > > source of confusion is the plethora of units that are commonly used, as > > you have put it above, Duncan. Indeed, they sometimes try to tell me > > that "these powers are different" on the basis of the differing units. I > > wonder how my experience compares to that of instructors in physics > > classrooms in metricated countries. > > > > Jim > > > > -- > > Metric Methods(SM) "Don't be late to metricate!" > > James R. Frysinger, CAMS http://www.metricmethods.com/ > > 10 Captiva Row e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Charleston, SC 29407 phone/FAX: 843.225.6789 > > -- Metric Methods(SM) "Don't be late to metricate!" James R. Frysinger, CAMS http://www.metricmethods.com/ 10 Captiva Row e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Charleston, SC 29407 phone/FAX: 843.225.6789
