In the U.S., the non-SI term allowed for the Mg is the "metric ton" not the
tonne. Besides, outside the English speaking world, nobody would know the
difference between the ton and tonne.
"Internatinal" does not mean "within Anglo-French" cultures. It means among
all nations and countries. What exists as an exception to please a few
narrow-minded members of a committee does not constitute a rule that anyone
needs to follow. Alas, most do not, U.S. included.
The parallel with the litre is misleading. The litre used to be a unit; the
tonne not. It is a "tonne-come-late" invention of the British to distinguish
among the many tons that they have had. They'll do anything to mess up the
changeover to metric; that way they find more excuses to procrastinate. They
know that KISS (keep it simple, stupid) might speed up the process and
metric could be implemented before they die.
Stan
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Hooper" <[email protected]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Sent: 09 Sep 27, Sunday 19:55
Subject: [USMA:45914] SI symbols, esp. tonne
On Sep 26 , at 8:33 PM, Stan Jakuba wrote:
The SI symbol for what some call the metric ton is 1000 kg or 1 Mg, the
latter pronounced "megagram, not "tonne."
The "tonne" cannot be SI for many reasons.
Stan Jakuba
But, Stan, the tonne is listed as a non-SI unit acceptable for use with
SI in the official SI manual from BIPM, 2006 edition (the latest). That
publication lists the tonne as being equivalent to 1000 kg and as having
the symbol "t".
Of course, it is not an SI unit, just as the litre is not an official SI
unit. As such, limiting its use is perhaps advisable but it is still
allowable.
Bill Hooper
0.074 t body mass, plus or minus 0.001 t or so. (Ha, ha, ha!)
Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA
