6 ms·
How about we keep the current name and use it as a basis for prefixing? gram -> millikilogram milligram -> microkilogram metric ton -> kilok
by function_seven 7y ago
How about we keep the current name and use it as a basis for prefixing?
gram -> millikilogram
milligram -> microkilogram
metric ton -> kilokilogram
...never mind.
- bdowling 7y agoIt's almost a crime that a metric ton isn't called a "megagram". Aside, are the mega and giga prefixes ever used for anything except bits and bytes? (Edit: OK, OK. I forgot about megaohms, megahertz, megawatts. Also megapixels and Megadeth.)
- m_eiman 7y agoMegatons of TNT equivalent for big bombs.
- idrae 7y agoHere in the Netherlands GJ (gigajoule) is used for buildings that use blockheating.
- billpg 7y agoIt always feels a little grating when I hear someone say some number of "thousand kilometers".
- bdamm 7y agoYes, describing my old car's odometer as "250 megameters" is oddly satisfying to let roll of the tongue.
- ineedasername 7y agoI prefer to mix my references between metric & imperial: 1.55 deca-miles
- NPC32419419 7y agoGigajoules in Europe.
- seszett 7y agoMega-, giga- and terawatts are well used and relatively common. More specialised but still common enough are megaohms and mega/giga/terahertz.
- jabl 7y ago> Aside, are the mega and giga prefixes ever used for anything except bits and bytes? Sure, few examples of the top of my head: - Megatons, as in yield of nuclear weapons. Which is a bit odd unit, should be in J, goddammit! - Similarly, energy consumption/production. Commonly used units MWh, GWh, TWh. Again, the proper unit would be J, not Wh. Or Mtoe, for Million tons of oil equivalent.
- garmaine 7y ago> Megatons, as in yield of nuclear weapons. Which is a bit odd unit, should be in J, goddammit! That’s what is odd about it? It should be teragrams.
- jabl 7y agoIt's a measure of energy, hence the unit should be J (with some appropriate prefix).
- jsjohnst 7y agoPeta- would be the appropriate prefix. 4.184 PJ is 1 megaton.
- a1369209993 7y agoActually, it should be grams. 51.3162(...) grams, to be somewhat precise.
- apt-get 7y agoYield of explosives is generally measured in kilograms of TNT, that's why.
- garmaine 7y agoWhoosh.
- copeki 7y agoMegahertz, Megawatt, Megapixel?
- kragen 7y agoYes! Aside from the extremely common megahertz and gigahertz, commonly used units are megajoules, gigajoules, megawatts, gigawatts, terawatts, petajoules (when countries are negotiating about energy security), exajoules (when people measure world energy consumption), megohms, gigohms, megalitres (for the capacity of a dam, though teraliters would have been more appropriate), megapascals (of some kind of tensile strength typically), gigapascals (of Young's modulus typically), megaergs (back when people still used ergs), and so on.
- maxnoe 7y agoUm yes, for ..., like EVERYTHING? How much money do we have left in the budget -> Several k€. Astronomical distances in kilo, mega and giga parsecs / light years. Forces (e.g engine thrust) Kilo and Meganewtons. output of powerplants are usually in the Megawatt to Gigawatt. Frequencys of radio waves are Megahertz to Terahertz. Energy of cosmic Ray's goes all the way up to zetta electronvolts. I could name more
- teel 7y ago> and Megadeth.) Laughed at that one.
- philwelch 7y agoMegadeth is named after the term “megadeath”, a unit in Cold War calculations of possible nuclear attacks to designate a million deaths. The 80’s were a grim time. (You can actually see in the film Dr. Strangelove a scene where George C. Scott’s character leans over a binder labeled “World Targets in Megadeaths”.)
- ern 7y agoAn engineering mechanics textbook that I used had megagram as a unit.
- philwelch 7y agoGigawatts were popularized in a certain movie :)
- petschge 7y agoPhysicists studying the sun and effect on its surface use megameter as a length scale quite a bit.