Dear Bill and All, I have interspersed some remarks.
on 2002-12-12 12.47, Bill Potts at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > No, it certainly should not be micron, which is not an SI unit. True, micron is not an SI unit, but it was a metric unit. Search the www.bipm.fr site for the archaic word 'micron'. > The symbol for micron is �, True, and this was approved by CGPM in the past (Search the www.bipm.fr site for the archaic symbol ' � ' � note spaces before and aft). > which is merely a prefix in the vocabulary of > SI, 'merely' is not an appropriate description of an SI prefix � all prefixes are more important than 'merely'. > in which the micron's replacement, micrometer (or micrometre), is �m. > I'm sorry, but it seems to me that the original unit, micrometre, was temporarily replaced by 'micron' until about 1960. The word 'micrometer' refers, either, to the minor subset (less than 5 % 0f the world's population that lives in the USA � the only nation left in the world who are led to believe that they do not use the International System of Units (SI), or to a device that measures small amounts of length. > Of course, one must acknowledge that many (if not most) engineers and others > still use the term. Jargon is jargon. One must protect the idea that we (engineers and others) are especially gifted people. 'Engineers and others' are devising units everyday to promote this illusion (decimillimetres in the shoe trade is an interesting example). > Regarding the gadget, it's a matter of emphasis. But it should also be a matter of spelling. > The gadget, micrometer, has > the emphasis on the second syllable, whereas the unit, micrometer (or > micrometre), has the emphasis on the first and third syllables. Consider, the correct pronunciation for the length (in Australia) MICROmetre (as opposed to miCROMetre) and the correct pronunciation for the measuring device (in Australia) of miCROMetre. Cheers, Pat Naughtin CAMS Geelong, Australia
