- #36
lekh2003
Gold Member
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Dr.D said:Regarding "weight" expressed in kilograms, it is NOT TRUE that 1 kilogram is 1 kilogram * 1 meter/s^2, so this is an inconsistent usage. It is essentially the same mistake made by expressing both force and mass in pounds, only reversed. Who is to say they are more interested in their mass than in their weight? Are they more interested in the pull of the Earth on their bodies and the resultant ache in their ankles and the soles of their feet? Or are they really thinking about how their momentum will be affected in a collision?
I beg to differ with what you are saying.
Firstly, you are saying that the SI system is arbitrary due to the usage of fudge factors to quantify and make sense of the units. This logic is inherently flawed since everything we observe about the universe is then a fudge factor. We make sense of different things with prefixes and units, because there is no universal system to make everything magically work. The US system and SI system are equally as arbitrary and useless as each other, but if the SI system is easier to use, then let us use it.
Secondly, these so called "inconsistencies" are not a product of the SI system, but a misconception created by the common public without any technical understanding. From a purely technical point of view, I understand the differences in weight and mass, and I'm sure anyone on this forum definitely does. If somebody doesn't, it isn't a fault in the SI system, it is a fault of the people and their linguistic assumptions.
Any units system is a construct of our imagination. This is the way humans understand the world. If one of the methods is easy to convert with, regardless of it's fudge factors, why shouldn't we use it?