Pat: The article looks good. Of course, if one doesn't need to assess the energy involved, there's no need to visualize an arbitrary volume, or indeed any volume. I simply visualize whatever is blowing on my face arriving at whatever point within the current scope of my vision I think it will reach in one second. I then make a rough estimate of the distance to that point. In the case of a weather report, where the wind velocity is already provided, I don't necessarily have to know how it will feel on my face. I can visualize leaves or dust or something else blowing along the street at that velocity. Of course, I could also use that same visualization for when the wind is actually blowing on my face. Your wind-speed categories are interesting, making your article a good reference. However, for the purposes of a simple explanation, there may be too much information there. By the way, I've never seen Rear Admiral hyphenated before. I don't know about Australian spelling conventions, but in US English, service ranks aren't hyphenated. The last two times I was in Australia, I thought about buying an Aussie dictionary, but simply never got around to it. An actual substantive problem, though, is your use of Roman type for the formulas. To distinguish them from units, variables should be italicized (e.g., E = 0.5·mv² or E = mv²/2). (I know you know that, so I assume it's an oversight.) Best regards, Bill
_____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Pat Naughtin Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 04:03 To: U.S. Metric Association Cc: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:41166] Wind speed m/s On 2008/06/16, at 3:45 AM, Bill Potts wrote: Now, for wind speed, m/s makes eminent sense. There, we're dealing with whether or not something can be visualized. Dear Bill, Thanks for this suggestion. It really stated me thinking. My first thought was about the ability of your imagination to visualise an invisible substance such air in an invisible form such as wind. However, to continue your theme of 'something can be visualized', I have begun the attached article with these two sentences: I want you to share a thought experiment with me. Visualise a cubic metre of air.
