Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
I am a process engineer, so the unit conversion is a daily bread for me. (The engineering software I sell has a perfect automatic unit conversion system as well as an excellent Units Calculator) but I am also interested in the subject itself and the definitions.
Some U.S. freedom units are not stupid at all; these are practical. For example the valve constant Cv is "A valve of the Cv = 1 is one that drops 1 psi when the flow rate is 1 U.S. gallon per minute". The metric definition of Kv is: "A valve of the Kv = 1 is one that drops 1 bar when the flowrate is 1 m3/h". Both definitions are neat and comprehensive; a single conversion factor does.
Temperature? Well, I have learned a lot here at the Forums. While I think in degrees C, I also have got a feeling how the Americans perceive the ambient temperature. I do not feel it in the processes though. For me 474 F means nothing but 245 C gives me the right feeling.
Riding distance? I love thinking in miles! Did you know a ride of 25.4 km was worth a million inches?
Those pints! The imperial pint being bigger than the U.S. one!
I have never been interested in the definition of BTU for energy. Now I know 1 BTU is defined as the amount of heat energy required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. Oh well, we had the calorie (raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 deg C) but the kcal has only remained to express the human body energy expense (I burned 1,000 "calories" on my ride: it is a thousand kilocalories indeed). Now, it is J, kJ, MJ... (Not everyone in the States is aware that the SI unit of mass is 1 kilogram, not a gram). I find many British people using words like "a kay" or "a kilo" while the unit following the "k" really matters 1 kilogram or 1 kilometre but neither "1 kay" nor "1 kilo"
How come America is using a British Thermal Unit?! You know, Gulf of America or Lake America But I digress.
We have so many nations here. American, Canadian, British, European/Australian/New Zealanders. A specific question to the U.S. members here is: In cycling, what metric units have you really adopted? (Yes I know ammo is metric there, hehe) For instance: is it 29x2" or 700x50 or 50-622?
P.S. A fun fact. Any sane bicycle tyre manufacturer makes a 2" wide tyre as 50 mm. Only Specialized and only with one model of the tyre made a 2" tyre 51 mm wide (as it should be!)
Some U.S. freedom units are not stupid at all; these are practical. For example the valve constant Cv is "A valve of the Cv = 1 is one that drops 1 psi when the flow rate is 1 U.S. gallon per minute". The metric definition of Kv is: "A valve of the Kv = 1 is one that drops 1 bar when the flowrate is 1 m3/h". Both definitions are neat and comprehensive; a single conversion factor does.
Temperature? Well, I have learned a lot here at the Forums. While I think in degrees C, I also have got a feeling how the Americans perceive the ambient temperature. I do not feel it in the processes though. For me 474 F means nothing but 245 C gives me the right feeling.
Riding distance? I love thinking in miles! Did you know a ride of 25.4 km was worth a million inches?
Those pints! The imperial pint being bigger than the U.S. one!
I have never been interested in the definition of BTU for energy. Now I know 1 BTU is defined as the amount of heat energy required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. Oh well, we had the calorie (raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 deg C) but the kcal has only remained to express the human body energy expense (I burned 1,000 "calories" on my ride: it is a thousand kilocalories indeed). Now, it is J, kJ, MJ... (Not everyone in the States is aware that the SI unit of mass is 1 kilogram, not a gram). I find many British people using words like "a kay" or "a kilo" while the unit following the "k" really matters
1 kilogram or 1 kilometre but neither "1 kay" nor "1 kilo" How come America is using a British Thermal Unit?!
You know, Gulf of America or Lake America But I digress.We have so many nations here. American, Canadian, British, European/Australian/New Zealanders. A specific question to the U.S. members here is: In cycling, what metric units have you really adopted? (Yes I know ammo is metric there, hehe)
For instance: is it 29x2" or 700x50 or 50-622?P.S. A fun fact. Any sane bicycle tyre manufacturer makes a 2" wide tyre as 50 mm. Only Specialized and only with one model of the tyre made a 2" tyre 51 mm wide (as it should be!)
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