4 ms·
Hmmm. A kiloton is pretty close to 1000 tonne, or a gigagram. So kilotons per kilogram is a fancy way of saying "about one million". :-)
by ajarmst 9y ago
Hmmm. A kiloton is pretty close to 1000 tonne, or a gigagram. So kilotons per kilogram is a fancy way of saying "about one million". :-)
- scentoni 9y agoYes, as in about one million times more powerful than TNT.
- logfromblammo 9y agoA kiloton is not a Gg. It is the equivalent explosive energy to the detonation of a Gg of trinitrotoluene. It is 4.184 TJ. Thus, the kiloton/kg ratio for TNT is set by convention at 0.001, because you need 1000 kg of TNT to produce one kiloton of explosive energy, and the energy released in a TNT explosion is somewhat variable.
- bonzini 9y ago1000 kg of TNT produces one _ton_ of energy, not one kiloton, so TNT is set by convention at 10^-6 kt/kg.
- logfromblammo 9y agoToo right, and thank you for the correction. This is exactly why we should all just use the SI unit, the joule.
- bonzini 9y agoThe SI unit for kt/kg is 4.184 TJ/kg, but it's cooler to write it as 4.184 Mm^2/s^2, that is the square of a (huge) speed!
- ajarmst 9y agoSigh. Yeah. I know. I guess Poe's Law applies, but I thought the smiley at the end was sufficient to let everyone know that I was just being playful with unit substitution. I regret my error.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- lanna 9y agoRelevant XKCD: "Gas mileage is measured in square meters." https://what-if.xkcd.com/11/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/11/
- ajarmst 9y agoWell, I'm glad someone got the joke. Judging by the downvotes, no one seems to appreciate my sense of humor.