Re: Rationalized scientific terminology

On Oct 7, 11:33 am, af...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (John Park) wrote:

I find light years useful because, given the speed of a space craft
in sensible units, it's easy to convert to a fraction of light speed
and hence to work out how long it will take the craft to travel X ly.

What sort of spacecraft are you dealing with in a science (not science
fiction) where "sensible units" for velocity is as a fraction of c?

I understand what you're saying of course - it's for precisely that
reason that there are so many blasted pressure terms running around:
each specialty has it's own favored units at least partially because
it makes calculations in those specialties easier (or even trivial;
again, reference c = h-bar = pi = 1). but if you are working for a
"rational" measurement system, I'd recommend at least starting with
units that work well for real-world, "rational" problems.

Once we actually have starships, you can push for a redefinition of
the basic unit of velocity to light-years :).

--
Brian Davis
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Rationalized scientific terminology
    ... in sensible units, it's easy to convert to a fraction of light speed ... The New Horizons probe is going to go 48 AU in 9 years, ... about 5.3 AU/yr. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.science)
  • Re: X-Prize Lunar Lander Challenge
    ... You only need a few hundred m/s to throw a shell a few km. ... Well, by performance, I meant range, which implies velocity. ... And even the tube of an M67 would be a serious fraction of your mass budget. ...
    (comp.lang.forth)
  • Re: why-o-why
    ... Velocity is the rate at which we move, ... write that - and this is simply notation - as ... Thus velocity is dx/dt. ... Remember, it's not a fraction. ...
    (sci.math)