Posted on 03/14/2014 6:37:20 PM PDT by PROCON
About 20 - 25 years ago the international aviation community converted from altimeter settings, altitude above sea level derived from a barometer, to hectopascals altitude above sea level derived from millibars. Funny thing is, while the source of the setting used in determining attitude changed to a metric source altitude is still generally reported in feet.
There are variations throughout the world. I believe that Russia uses meters for its assigned altitudes.
Different means of measurement just adds confusion. Personally, for the aviation community, I would prefer on system of measurement. Pick it out, nautical miles, kilometers, feet, meters, just standardize it.
Now there’s a philosophy I can understand!!
Also the altimeter setting used while in flight levels.
I notice that in news articles -- some distance expressed in meters, for example. Really frosts me. I mean, I realize that you can multiply by 3 and get the approximate number of feet; but you have to interrupt your reading to do it.
It's like NPR reporters' insistence on pronouncing foreign names in the foreign language. They do it to impress [themselves]. Heh.
Where were you at in Germany? I was an air traffic controller at Zweibrucken AB. In the Zwei Control Zone the VFR minima was not 1000 and 3 or 1500 and 3 but rather 2000 feet and 8 kilometers (4.3 nm). All other US air bases used 1500 and 3. Nobody could every figure that out.
So the weather system movements at 18k feet are the best indicator of system flows? Is that why it's always used, or is it more or less an average?
That’s a very internationalist viewpoint.
And you are still wrong as to the bar being part of the so-called “SI”. It is not.
Well, the newton is supposed to be the “equivalent” of the pound, since it’s the metric measurement of force of a mass due to gravity. Problem is, one newton is equal to 4.45 pounds.
I was at Illesheim, enjoying the antics of the Cobra pilots, whose minimums were 1000 feet ceiling and 1000 m. visibility. But they didn’t like to fly unless we had far better weather. There was no way they could fly above the clouds.
The real issue with the Mars probe was probably having app dev types who don’t “get” the physical world doing all the work, and not having engineers involved enough. Probably a cost-saving measure to pay for more managers and PHBs. Any real engineer would have been insistent on knowing and understanding the measurement units involved. It is ground into you such that it is second nature to properly keep up with the units all along the way when making calculations.
The US is inching toward the metric system but we’ve got miles to go. :=)
Are you being sarcastic or ignorant? Weight is grams. Length is in meters. Volume is liters. For those with intelligence, syllable count doesn't matter but doing calculations on base ten does.
Please pay attention. I never discussed bars. I answered the question as to what are SI units.
Science crosses borders. Get used to it.
Perhaps I didn't make myself clear. In the metric system, there is no metric equivalent of such practical measurements as the inch, ounce, teaspoon, tablespoon, cup, pint and foot that are in the American system of weights and measurements. And syllable count may not factor when one is doing calculations, but can when communicating about them.
To illustrate my point, if we adopt the metric system, we will have to rename the game of football 30.5 centimeter ball. I'll take football--it uses a more practical measurement and it's easier to say.
Post number 2 was by someone else - Ouderkirk.
Your latter statement seems to display some lack of knowledge of science.As far as weights and measures go, uncertainty plagues them more frequently than other scientific disciplines due to the necessity of common use. US law comes to bear here, since it is the job of Congress alone in the USA to assign weights and measures; this cannot “cross borders” but by definition has to stay within US borders. Any “international standard” that purports to be such is a political animal rather than scientific.
Your statement reflects a complete ignorance of science. The weights and measurements have been rigidly defined and are set by the CGPM and maintained by the BIPM, the international bureau of weights and measures. This is to remove uncertainty of common use as you put it. The result being that a dose of 1 mg of atropine or 0.3 mg/kg of etomidate is immediately understood and is the same amount no matter where the medication is delivered, be it the US, China, or Trinidad and Tobago. Someone picking up a chemistry journal in India can replicate results published in Brazil.
Because the measurements and terms mean the same thing.
As to Congress setting weights and measures, guess what. Congress adopted the metric system stating that "It shall be lawful throughout the United States of America to employ the weights and measures of the metric system; and no contract or dealing, or pleading in any court, shall be deemed invalid or liable to objection because the weights or measures expressed or referred to therein are weights or measures of the metric system."
The Treaty of the Meter was signed by the US in 1875 establishing the BIPM.
In 1893, the Madenhall order was given by the Treasury Dept., Weights and Measures, that the SI units would be the standard of measurement for the US and defined the common English units in SI.
The NIST, established by Congress to maintain standards of weights and measurement adopted SI units in 1964 for all industry and commerce.
In 1988, Congress passed the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act which stated in part that "the metric system of measurement as the preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce."
Thus, an international system designed to standardize measurements so that all science research and applications can be understood despite language differences has been officially embraced by the US for trade and commerce for close to 140 years and with good reason.
But you can still buy your bananas by the pound.
I stand corrected. (How did I get you two mixed up?)
The EPA has decreed that any measurement based on the deadly toxic heavy metal mercury shall never again be used in the USSA.
It’s for the children.
As for “ignorance of science”, the scientific fact is that all measurements are wrong. Uncertainty can never be removed at any time, unless we get standards straight from God. (Foretold in Ezekiel 45:12 that we’ll return to the shekel, with the twenty-gerah division, incidentally.)
Similar beginning letters...
And Ezekiel? Seriously?
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