On Tue, 3 Sep 2002 09:39:49 kilopascal wrote: >Re: [USMA:22021] Fwd: [A_A] "millimeter tolerance"2002-09-03 >... >What I also noticed that was quite quaint was the use of dekanewtons: >... >Why not use kilonewton, as it reduces the number to two digits. > I guess I can answer that. daN is the prevailing unit in some industries when the "perception relation" to mass is sought, John. By saying 3200 daN one could "see" 3200 kg "behind it" (true, this would not be exact and would depend on the accelaration being considered, but since gravity is the one largely assumed...).
The use of kN would evidently defeat that "instantaneous" perception... Again, it should be mentioned that "practicality" seems to be important for these applications. One more reason to allow for flexibility here. Nobody should feel "offended" by the occurrence of these prefixes. If any of them serves a purpose, please let be it. Anyone who would "prefer" kN should just feel at ease to mentally move a decimal point 2 places to the left... Thanks. Cheers. Marcus Is your boss reading your email? ....Probably Keep your messages private by using Lycos Mail. Sign up today at http://mail.lycos.com
