Over the last four days, I have driven from my home in N E Lincolnshire, via Bournemouth on UK south coast, to Newhaven (ditto), ferry to Dieppe, from Dieppe via Rouen, Le Mans, Clermont Ferrand, and getting off the autoroute to visit Mende in the Massif Centrale (a bit of late 1950s nostalgia for me).
>From Mende, over the Millau viaduc (tallest in the world - incredible, Google it), to Perpignan, over the Spanish border past Barcelona, and currently near Almeria on the Spanish coast. Including side trips, driven just under 2800 km, at an overall average of 91 km/h, and fuel economy of 7.4 L/ 100 km in my Citroen C5, cruising mostly at 120-130 km/h on the freeways. A very long way! Everything of course 100% metric, and I am so perplexed why the UK still persists with imperial measurements on its roads - really annoying having imperial instruments when trying to gauge distances to intersections etc. John F-L > Dear Pierre, > > On 2010/10/20, at 00:27 , Pierre Abbat wrote: > >> The length of the pendulum in standard gravity is 993.621 mm. The >> difference >> between that and the meter bar would be immediately obvious to the >> metrologists of the time, > > The idea of "standard gravity" had not really developed in the 1780s > when Thomas Jefferson and the French "philosophes" began to address > this question. The French people did their pendulum experiments mostly > in Paris (with the Paris latitude and longitude, and elevation above > sea level). Jefferson, on the other hand, probably did his > experimentation at his home of Monticello in Virginia. However, it was > probably Jefferson who negotiated the idea of a pendulum at 45° North > latitude (and at sea level ??) and this definition then evolved into > the concept that we now know as "standard gravity". > >> whereas the difference between the fraction of the >> meridian and the meter bar is less than a millimeter. (a(1) means >> arctangent >> of 1.) >> 9.80665/(a(1)*4)^2 >> .99362138556613170634 > > As they say in showman's circles, "Close, but no cigar!" I don't think > that the longitude measure was ever accepted by the Academy of Science > so they never recommended this definition to the French government. > > Dunkirk to Barcelona is about 1/40, not 1/10, of the earth's > circumference. > > Could I see your calculation, please. The road distance from > Barcelona to Dunkerque is 1329 kilometres, and I worked from there. > See > http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&om=1&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=102676733516280739492.000001124006a1f2543c7 > > Btw, my father said Calais to Perpignan; any idea where that rumor > started? > > I think that this was part of the Frenchification of the metric system > over the years. Perpignan is on the French side of the Spanish-French > border so a nationalist in France could then claim that the metric > system was wholly French. This went with that other fallacy about the > measurement of the line of longitude that "passed through Paris"; a > direct line from Barcelona to Dunkerque goes close to, but not > through, Paris. > > As you know the invention of the metric system by Bishop John Wilkins > occurred in England. The French philosophes in the Academy of Science > probably knew this as they were very keen in the 1790s to develop a > "decimal metric system" for the whole world. This is why they chose > the line from Dunkerque to Barcelona to give it some international > credibility (and it was the longest North-South line available to them > on land). It is also why they worked so closely with Benjamin Franklin > and Thomas Jefferson in the USA in developing the "decimal metric > system". See http://metricationmatters.com/docs/USAMetricSystemHistory.pdf > and why they put in considerable political effort to work with Sir > John Riggs Miller, a member of the UK government, to develop a joint > approach to measurement reform for the whole world. > > 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. > >
