pastprime
Oct 5, 2007, 4:13 PM
Views: 2572
Registered: Jul 7, 2005
Posts: 251
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Dug out one of my old physics texts last night.
Pertinent quote:
"...the approved force unit is now the newton.." (I never questioned that). "The older unit, 'kilogram of force', in no longer use in scientific and technical work. Only a few years ago,.... the kilogram was used both as a unit of mass and as a unit of force, or weight. ..... . In this book, when we use the word kilogram (kg), we will mean mass, not force. If, in some cases, a kilogram of force is to be indicated, we will use the designations 'kilogram of force, or kg-f"
Quite apparently, kg was used as a unit of force, presumably by people who were not idiots, or did not understand physics. In fact, looking at the time frame, the first man on the moon was probably put there using equations with kg as a unit of force.
Using kg, or weight, to give someone an idea of the magnitude of certain forces, is completely legitimate.
It is only current convention that uses the more complicated, and less quickly grasped, kn.
Using kn as a unit of force worked just fine once, and works just fine now, which was my entire point.
If you don't want to use it, and get satisfaction from thinking someone who does is an idiot, fine. Can't argue with either. Your call.
Just quit saying it doesn't, or can't, work, or that someone who uses those terms in their explaination can't possibly understand the principles.
It is interesting how some of those arguing against me, have used some of the very same arguments I used myself in earlier posts. No one (except Jay) seems to have paid much attention to what I was actually saying. They just detected heresy, and plugged in what they thought was an appropriate tape to play back.
(This post was edited by pastprime on Oct 5, 2007, 4:19 PM)
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