On 2007 06 5 11:54 AM, "Mike Millet" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Mike, > > I think part of FMI's objection is that the SI unit of calorie (or in this > case I believe it's the kilocalorie) is a depreciated unit, and all > nutritional information in most other nations is done by the joule as the unit > of energy. The milligrams and grams of serving would stay the same but instead > of a 2000 calorie diet you would have 8368 joule diet. At least you would if > Google calculator is at all accurate :). > Dear Mike, It is unlikely that the Google calculator is accurate since there are many different definitions of a calorie. Firstly, the initial letter indicates whether one calorie is 1/1000 of another Calorie, and secondly the definition of a calorie (or Calorie) varies according to the temperature that the test is done. The joule is the preferred SI unit and it has been since 1889. The chronology of the SI energy unit joule went something like this: 1818 James Prescott Joule (1818/1889) was born into a wealthy brewing family in Salford, England. 1840 Joule stated a physical law, now called Joule's Law, that heat is produced in an electrical conductor. 1845 Joule was the first person to measure the equivalence of work and heat by having falling weights rotate paddles in water. At about this time, Joule shared in discovering the law of the conservation of energy, which says that energy used up in one form reappears in another form and is never lost. His co-workers were Hermann von Helmholtz, Julius von Mayer, and William Thomson (1824/1907) (later Lord Kelvin) and he worked with Lord Kelvin to develop the absolute temperature scale. Joule never claimed to have formulated a general Law of Conservation of Energy but his experiments were certainly fundamental in bringing about that formulation. 1881 At the First International Electrical Congress (IEC) in Paris, five 'practical' electrical units were defined; they were: the ohm, farad, volt, ampere, and coulomb. This decision was based on the recommendations of a British Association for the Advancement of Science and their recommendations were largely based on Joule's researches on electrical energy. See an excellent article by Robert A. Nelson at: http://www.aticourses.com/international_system_units.htm on these and some other metric issues. 1889 In 1889, the year of Joule's death, the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) suggested the name for the energy unit to honor the name of James Prescott Joule for his pioneering work on electricity and energy. The BAAS promoted this idea actively and the Second Congress of the International Electrical Conference (IEC) added the joule, watt, and a unit of inductance that was later given the name henry. The joule was adopted by the IEC as the unit for the physical quantities of both energy and work. 1946 The joule was defined by the CIPM. (SI brochure, Appendix 1, Section 2.4 (Electric current)), which shows CIPM resolution 2 giving the definition of the joule. 1948 The joule and its definition were ratified by the CGPM as the official SI unit for energy. This made the joule the official¹ world unit for energy. Resolution 3 of the CGPM (1948) simply said: > 3. The unit of quantity of heat is the joule. They then went on to say in a footnote: > Note: It is requested that the results of calorimetric experiments be as far > as possible expressed in joules. If the experiments are made by comparison > with the rise of temperature of water (and that, for some reason, it is not > possible to avoid using the calorie), the information necessary for conversion > to joules must be provided. The CIPM, advised by the CCTC, should prepare a > table giving, in joules per degree, the most accurate values that can be > obtained from experiments on the specific heat of water. It seems that the CGPM felt troubled by the promoters of the calorie (or is that Calorie) even then. This footnote has a decidedly grumpy tone in my opinion! 1960 When the CGPM first defined SI, in 1960, it included the joule as the derived unit for energy. This reconfirmed the joule as the official SI metric unit for energy. 1998 The joule is listed in 'The International System of Units (SI) in 'Table 3. SI derived units with special names and symbols' as the SI derived unit for the 'Derived quantity' of 'energy, work, quantity of heat'. 2007 However, as you know, some people resist the introduction of any measuring units into their 'traditional' areas of operation. Although the unit joule has been recognised internationally as the preferred, and in many cases the only legal unit, since 1889, I have seen 95 other energy measurement words on the internet within the past year: > Atomic energy unit, barrel oil equivalent, Billion electron volts, British > thermal unit (0 °C), British thermal unit (16 °C), British thermal unit (20 > °C), British thermal unit (32 °F), British thermal unit (4 °C), British > thermal unit (60 °F), British thermal unit (68 °F), British thermal unit > (international), British thermal unit (ISO), British thermal unit (IT), > British thermal unit (mean), British thermal unit (thermal), British thermal > unit (thermochemical), calorie, Calorie, calorie (16 °C), Calorie (16 °c), > calorie (20 °C), Calorie (20 °c), calorie (4 °C), Calorie (4 °c), calorie > (diet calorie), Calorie (diet kilocalorie), calorie (int.), Calorie (int.), > calorie (IT), calorie (International Steam Table), Calorie (it), Calorie > (international steam table) , calorie (mean), Calorie (mean), calorie > (thermochemical), Calorie (thermochemical), calorie (USA Customary), Calorie > (USA Customary), Celsius heat unit (int.), coulomb volt, cubic centimetre > atmospheres, cubic foot atmospheres, cubic meter atmospheres, dutys, dyne > centimetres, electron volt, erg, foot-grains, foot-pound force, foot-poundal, > gigaelectronvolt, gram calorie, gram calories (mean), hartree, horsepower > hours, horsepower hours (metric), inch pound force, Kayser, kilo, kilocalorie > (16 °C), kilocalorie (16 °C), kilocalorie (20 °C), kilocalorie (4 °C), > kilocalorie (4 °C), kilocalorie (diet kilocalorie), kilocalorie (int.), > kilocalorie (int.), kilocalorie (IT) (International Steam Table) , kilocalorie > (mean), kilocalorie (thermochemical), kiloelectronvolt, kilogram calories > (int.), kilogram force meter, kiloton TNT equivalent, kilowatt hour, kilowatt > minute, kilowatt second, megaelectronvolt, megaton TNT equivalent, megawatt > hours, newton meter, newton meters, Q unit, quadrillion, quad, Rydberg, therm > (EC), therm (US), therm, TNT equivalent, tonne coal equivalent, tonne oil > equivalent, watt-hour, watt-minute, and watt-second. Notes: All the different calories, Calories, and BThUs have different values at different temperatures. These 95 energy words need 8930 conversion factors if you want to convert from one to another. Cheers, Pat Naughtin PO Box 305, Belmont, 3216 Geelong, Australia Phone 61 3 5241 2008 Pat Naughtin is the editor of the free online monthly newsletter, 'Metrication matters'. Subscribe at http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter Pat is recognised as a Lifetime Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist (LCAMS) with the United States Metric Association. He is also editor of the 'Numbers and measurement' section of the Australian Government Publishing Service 'Style manual for writers, editors and printers'. He is a Member of the National Speakers Association of Australia and the International Federation for Professional Speakers. 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