Every once in a while, in Science magazine (AAAS), one sees megagrams
(Mg) and not quite so often megameters (Mm).
Jim
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Well, while I agree with Bill, it seems that humans need quite a bit of
training to use many different prefixes.
Instead, most people in metric countries seem to settle on a small number of prefixes (in
addition to the base unit) because they want (I presume) to keep only a small number of
"standard" sizes in their heads.
This is why I see metric usage that uses the kilometer as the "base" for the unit of
travel length, and then all distances are numeric multiples of kilometers (such as "20 million
kilometers", etc.) rather than adjusting the prefix.
Ezra
-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Bill Hooper <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
On 2008 Jan 24 , at 10:06 PM, Ziser, Jesse wrote:
... found nothing suggesting that anyone is even considering
"switching" from tonnes to
Mg. Why the heck not?
If I may ask, what is the opinion of you wise folks on this?
Inertia.
Laziness.
"We always did it that way."
There is no good reason not to use the megagram (Mg) which is
identical to the tonne (also called "metric ton" in countries using
non-metric units). The same faulty arguments are used as are used to
explain why non-metric countries (USA) don't switch to metric.
If we allow the renaming of every unit to give them all different and
unrelated names, we'll be almost back to where we started before SI
was created.
Regards,
Bill Hooper
Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA
==========================
SImplification Begins With SI.
==========================
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject:
[USMA:40211] Re: Tonnes
From:
Bill Hooper <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date:
Fri, 25 Jan 2008 03:39:40 +0000
To:
"U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
To:
"U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
On 2008 Jan 24 , at 10:06 PM, Ziser, Jesse wrote:
... found nothing suggesting that anyone is even considering
"switching" from tonnes to
Mg. Why the heck not?
If I may ask, what is the opinion of you wise folks on this?
Inertia.
Laziness.
"We always did it that way."
There is no good reason not to use the megagram (Mg) which is identical
to the tonne (also called "metric ton" in countries using non-metric
units). The same faulty arguments are used as are used to explain why
non-metric countries (USA) don't switch to metric.
If we allow the renaming of every unit to give them all different and
unrelated names, we'll be almost back to where we started before SI was
created.
Regards,
Bill Hooper
Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA
==========================
SImplification Begins With SI.
==========================
--
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