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An old artifact kept in a vault outside Paris is no longer the standard kilogram

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Re: An old artifact kept in a vault outside Paris is no longer the standard kilogram

#21

Post by m_eiman »

bdowling wrote: post #16
function_seven wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about we keep the current name and use it as a basis for prefixing? gram -> millikilogram milligram -> microkilogram metric ton -> kilokilogram ...never mind.

It'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.)

Megatons of TNT equivalent for big bombs.

Re: An old artifact kept in a vault outside Paris is no longer the standard kilogram

#22

Post by fsh »

misnome wrote: post #5

This article sounds like it got written by a scientist but got butchered through a PR department. It talks about the "Mass of a photon" and weighing them directly, rather than the energy-equivalent mass, which is presumably what they are intending to talk about?

As the article correctly states, photons have a finite mass that could in principle be measured by putting an optical cavity on a scale.

Re: An old artifact kept in a vault outside Paris is no longer the standard kilogram

#23

Post by idrae »

bdowling wrote: post #16
function_seven wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about we keep the current name and use it as a basis for prefixing? gram -> millikilogram milligram -> microkilogram metric ton -> kilokilogram ...never mind.

It'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.)

Here in the Netherlands GJ (gigajoule) is used for buildings that use blockheating.

Re: An old artifact kept in a vault outside Paris is no longer the standard kilogram

#24

Post by billpg »

bdowling wrote: post #16
function_seven wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about we keep the current name and use it as a basis for prefixing? gram -> millikilogram milligram -> microkilogram metric ton -> kilokilogram ...never mind.

It'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.)

It always feels a little grating when I hear someone say some number of "thousand kilometers".

Re: An old artifact kept in a vault outside Paris is no longer the standard kilogram

#25

Post by NPC32419419 »

bdowling wrote: post #16
function_seven wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about we keep the current name and use it as a basis for prefixing? gram -> millikilogram milligram -> microkilogram metric ton -> kilokilogram ...never mind.

It'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.)

Gigajoules in Europe.

Re: An old artifact kept in a vault outside Paris is no longer the standard kilogram

#26

Post by bdowling »

m_eiman wrote: post #21
bdowling wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It'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.)

Megatons of TNT equivalent for big bombs.

Are those metric tons or imperial tons? If metric, why aren't they gigakilograms (teragrams?) of TNT?

Re: An old artifact kept in a vault outside Paris is no longer the standard kilogram

#27

Post by seszett »

bdowling wrote: post #16
function_seven wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about we keep the current name and use it as a basis for prefixing? gram -> millikilogram milligram -> microkilogram metric ton -> kilokilogram ...never mind.

It'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.)

Mega-, giga- and terawatts are well used and relatively common. More specialised but still common enough are megaohms and mega/giga/terahertz.

Re: An old artifact kept in a vault outside Paris is no longer the standard kilogram

#28

Post by bdowling »

bdowling wrote: post #26
m_eiman wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Megatons of TNT equivalent for big bombs.

Are those metric tons or imperial tons? If metric, why aren't they gigakilograms (teragrams?) of TNT?

Answering my own question, "megatons of TNT" does refer to metric tons.
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