Date:         Tue, 31 Jan 2006 16:25:49 +1300
Reply-To:     Andrew Grebneff <andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Andrew Grebneff <andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ>
Subject:      Re: Metric spellings,  abbreviations
In-Reply-To:  <c9a90e107f3250ddb0f397f853f79369@mac.com>
Content-type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii

>Okay, for all you folk that are so high on converting to the metric
>system....what's the pressure in your tires? Uh, huh. What's that PSI
>thing again?
>
>So, let's see would that be 2.75 bar in my tires...or 3.3 when fully
>loaded. Bah, let's use hectopascals instead. 2750 or 3300 (roughly).
>
>Hmm, I wonder where I can get a tire gauge that measures in
>hectopascals.

How about fuel-consumption? Some magazines use l/100km, which is
ridiculous. Others use km/l, which is fine with me, but I still use
mpg (which correctly should be mi/gal...).

The standard for pressure in metric is kilopascals (kPa). Standard
atmospheric pressure is 101.3kPa. Funny how this unit never seems to
be used outside science...

... so I too still use psi. Otherwise it's metric all the way!!!

Hmmm... correctly, engine swept volume should be in meters cubed...
work it out!

Ok, for those many who don't know (and this includes metric
countries, no joke), metric abbreviations are ALWAYS in lower-case
letters EXCEPT where the syllable is a person's name:
W - Watt
N - Newton
J - Joule
P - Pascal
kW - kilowatt (probably ought to be kiloWatt)
kPa - kilopascal
Nm - Newton-meter
km - kilometer (-re for those who speak French)
m - meter
cm - centimeter

Units used for:
Nm - weight
kg - mass
m - length
m2 (superscript) - area
m3 (superscript) - volume

The abbreviation is both singular AND  plural, so NEVER has a s
tacked on (ie there's no such thing as kms). Also a period is NEVER
to be used except when the abbreviation comes right at the end of a
sentence.

>Metric v. SAE is akin to conservative v. liberal, subaru v. vw, diesel v.
>hybrid, yin v. yang, etc.
>
>How long will this thread last?
>
>Personally, I'm a Whitworth guy...

You're WAY out-of-date!
--
Andrew Grebneff
Dunedin
New Zealand
Fossil preparator
<andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut

HUMANITY: THE ULTIMATE VON NEUMANN MACHINE

DEMOCRACY: RULE BY THE LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR