SQUIDs can detect a change in this field of only 50 billionths of a micro-gauss (5 x 10-14 gauss), which equates to a change of the gyroscope's angle of 0.0001 arcseconds.
The above sentence is the epitome of ignorance. First of all, the unit gauss is deprecated and magnetic flux density should be in tesla. Second, the use of "billionths of a micro-gauss" is a real winner. Since 1 gauss is equivalent to 0.1 mT, then 5 x 10-14 gauss would equal 5 x 10-10 T or 50 nT. It is obvious that people who provided the data expressed it as 50 nT, but the author of the article in his infinite lack of wisdom decided to express it FFU style. That is in a befuddled manner. It sure made it clearer for me (yeah! right!). Euric ----- Original Message ----- From: "Carter, Baron" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, 2004-04-26 14:06 Subject: [USMA:29629] SA - A Pocket of Near-Perfection > A Pocket of Near-Perfection. Except for the appalling use of ifp. Now > matter how times I and others have written to these folks they still let > this stuff through. > > > http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/26apr_gpbtech.htm?list533332 > <http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/26apr_gpbtech.htm?list533332> > > > baron carter > >
