Dear Bill and Gene,
Thanks for these thoughts. I shall go away and mull some more.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, see
http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html
Hear Pat speak at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lshRAPvPZY
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has
helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the
modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they
now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for
their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many
different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial
and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA.
Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST,
and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com
for more metrication information, contact Pat at [email protected]
or to get the free 'Metrication matters' newsletter go to: http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter
to subscribe.
On 2010/06/21, at 12:21 , <[email protected]>
<[email protected]> wrote:
Bill,
To clarify the meanings of absolute and gravitational:
If mass is dominant, a mechanical set of three units for mass,
force, and time is called "absolute"; examples- gram, dyne, second;
kg, newton, second; pound, poundal, second.
If force is dominant, the set is called "gravitational"; example-
pound, slug, second.
---- Original message ----
Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2010 20:00:36 -0400
From: Bill Hooper <[email protected]>
Subject: [USMA:47882] Re: The metric system or what?
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
...
Pat,
...
When I studied physics in college (Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute), we had four "systems" of
units that we learned. They were:
the English "absolute" system
(based in part on the slug as the mass unit and
the pound as the calculated force unit)
the English "gravitational" system
(based in part on the pound as the unit of mass
and the poundal as the calculated force unit)
...
Bill Hooper
73 kg body mass*
Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA
* plus or minus a kilogram or so.
