Is it arbitrary? It is the distance traveled by light in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second so that it is always a repeatable distace. Then again I dont know the reason why they picked 1/299,792,458 of a second so I guess that is arbitrary. Thanks, Chris ---- Original message ---- >Date: Thu, 16 May 2002 20:42:48 +1200 >From: Andrew Grebneff <andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ> >Subject: Re: Warning!!! Check Your Speedometer - What a Sad, Sad Example >To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM > >>Reportedly, grade-school students spend a few days on measurements, >>practicing moving the decimal place around. Once they grasp the ease >>of metric, they forget it. No conversions to do. Nothing. Then they >>move on, while American students spend endless days (not) >>understanding how to convert inches to feet to yards to miles to... > >Matric is the ONLY system which makes any sense. The meter itself may >be arbitrary in length, but the other measures are all based directly >on it. > >1000 microns = 1mm >1000mm = 1m >1000m = 1km > >It's all based on thousands, not hundreds. > >1000mm3 = 1cm3 (=1ml) >1000 cm3 (ml) = 1l >1000l = 1m3 > >Also: >10mm= 1cm >10cm = 1dm >10dm = 1m > >What could be more logical? I'm glad I began using metric myself as a >kid, before Canada (where I lived then) metricated. I can't remember, >nor do I care, how many feet or yards there are in a mile. And I use >maps a lot, being a paleontologist (of sorts), and often need to work >distances out exactly. On the maps 2mm=50m. 20mm=1km. Easy. >-- >Andrew Grebneff >165 Evans St, Dunedin 9001, New Zealand ><andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz> >Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.