Actually it wouldn't be Apple. Read the disclaimer at the bottom of
the page. It reads:
Apple is providing links to these applications as a courtesy, and
makes no representations regarding the applications or any
information related thereto. Any questions, complaints or claims
regarding the applications must be directed to the appropriate
software vendor.
The actual developer is WGE/Madsense United.
On 2007-07 -21, at 17:53 , Bill Potts wrote:
You don't say who the addressee is for that letter, Bill, although
I assume
it was someone at Apple Computer.
Bill Potts
SI Navigator (http://metric1.org)
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf
Of Bill Hooper
Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2007 17:28
To: U.S. Metric Association
Cc: USMA
Subject: [USMA:39122] Metric Time
Your proposal for metric time (as seen in your Apple Widget for a
metric
clock) is incompatible with the International System of Units (SI),
which is
the modern METRIC SYSTEM in use by 95% of the world's population.
It is
incompatible because SI is based on a small number of fundamental
units, one
of which is the second of time. ABSOLUTELY ALL other measurements are
related to these few basic measures, so that modifying or
discarding any one
of them is tantamount to destroying the entire system of
measurements for
the whole world.
It is the interconnection between all units that makes the SI
metric system
powerful, not just the fact that units are related by simple
numbers like 10
and 100. You cannot tamper with one unit without considering how it
affects
all others. (If you choose to leave all others the same and use the
"metric
clock" ONLY for time of day, then you are promoting two unrelated
systems to
learn and to use, instead of just one. Also, since your "metric
time" would
be incompatible with all other metric units, I think it would be
ridiculous
to call your time "metric" at all.
Your time units are not metrically compatible with the SI second.
The "day"
is the length of the day and it's length is determined primarily by
the
rotation of the Earth on it's axis. The SI second is defined as a
size that
makes the day equal to 86400 seconds long (86400 s) on average.
That leads
to the following for your other time measures (with some values in
minutes
or hours in order to relate them to the old time units):
1 day = 86400 s (24 hours, of course)
1 deciday = 8640 s (2.4 hours)
1 centi day = 864 s (14.4 minutes)
1 milliday = 86.4 s (1.44 minutes)
1 moment = 8.64 s
None of these is related to the second by a simple factor and
therefore they
are all incompatible with virtually ALL other measurements. To give
you just
some samples of what I'm talking about:
The watt is used to measure power, which is how fast energy flows.
It is
equal to the flow of one joule of energy PER SECOND. Thus, using
"moments"
for the time unit in your system would cause the watt to be equal
to 8.84
joules per moment. EVERYTHING that is measured in watts (and
kilowatts and
megawatts and milliwatts) would have to be changed.
The ampere is used to measure the rate of flow of electric charge.
It is
equal to one coulomb of charge PER SECOND. Substitute your "moment"
or any
other of your units for the second and EVERYTHING that is now
measured in
amperes (or milliamperes or kiloamperes) would need to be changed.
Pascals are units of pressure and pressure is merely a force
applied to a
surface divided by the area of the surface. Force is measured in
newtons and
newtons are related to SECONDS, so that substituting any of you
units for
seconds would change how all forces and all pressures are measured.
I think the above shows that it would be monumentally difficult to
eliminate
the second of time in favor of any one of your units. As a result,
we would
then have to have all of your time units AND ALSO the second (and the
millisecond, the kilosecond, etc.) Far from simplifying things,
your system
makes them more complex.
To make a small improvement in measuring time of day, your system
would make
a monumental mess of virtually ALL other measurements for 95% of
the people
of the world. Sorry, but that doesn't seem to me to be a good trade
off. I
hope you will abandon your effort to promote your ill conceived
metric time
and metric clock.
Sincerely,
(Dr.) william Hooper
Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist Professor of Physics
(retired) The
University of Virginia's
College at Wise
