Dear John and All, on 2002-11-18 06.38, kilopascal at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
<snip> > Also, something of interest, I have a deutsche welle language text book > entitled "auf deutsch gesagt", and in one of the "conversations" between a > consumer and a grocer, the grocer tells the consumer that a "kilo" of apples > is 8. Thus, there are 125 g per apple. Yes, I know that the difference > between 120 g and 125 g is trivial, but if we want to get people use to the > kilogram, we need to educate them as to what they get for a kilogram. Also, > with things priced per kilogram it is important that consumers know how many > pieces they are getting per kilogram. Pricing per 10 pieces may be nice for > those that need to know the unit price per piece, but that is not the way > items are advertised or sold. <snip> It might be interesting to compare the German way of selling apples with Australian practice. Apples are sold here in 12.5 kilogram boxes and on the end of each box there is a stamp to show the number of pieces of fruit in the box. For example a fortnight ago I obtained a box of apples with the number 45 stamped on the end. The fruit was very large with an average of 278 grams (12.5 kg � 45 pieces = 278 grams per piece). The next size (that day ?) was numbered 53 and this gives an average of 236 grams per piece. I have just phoned a friend in an orchard and she told me that the highest number is usually 110 (= 114 grams per piece) but rarely she has seen 120 (= 104 grams per piece) As a side issue, you might like to compare this last average with the apple that is supposed to have fallen on Sir Isaac Newton's head in his garden at Woolsthorpe. Presumably Newton's apple had a weight of one newton, and we can safely assume that the acceleration due to gravity was about the same as now (say 9.8 m/s^2). Using the formula F = ma, it follows that the mass of Newton's apple was m = F/m = 1 � 9.8 = 102 grams. It follows that Isaac Newton's original apple (allowing certain assumptions) was quite small. Cheers, Pat Naughtin CAMS Geelong, Australia
