Why do we want to use SI? So we don't get bogged down in the following types
of discussion.

Duncan wrote:
> The UK gallon has a mass of 10 lb. avd. = 160 ounces (at 60oF?).
> [40 ounces to a UK quart]

ASSUMING THE FLUID IS WATER:

Since a quart is a quarter of a gallon and a pint is half a quart, then a
pint is one eighth of a gallon. This leads directly to:
one eighth of a gallon has a mass of one eighth of 160 ounces,
so that 1 pint has a mass of 20 ounces.

> ... there is a saying  "the pint's a pound, the world around".
> From this, we get a fluid ounce as 1/16th of a pint.
No we don't! From this (above) we get "a pint of water has a mass of one
pound" (16 ounces of mass). It doesn't tell us anything about how many fluid
ounces there are in a pint. There seems to be a confusion here between the
fluid ounce (a unit of volume) and the mass ounce (a mass unit). They're not
the same thing.

Besides, the conclusion immediately above, that a pint has a mass of16
ounces, is inconsistent with the previous conclusion, that a pint has a mass
of 20 ounces.

> 'the pint's a pound'  is not exactly so.
It's not even close.


Regards, Bill Hooper
college physics teacher (retired), USA (Florida)

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