Subj : a lighter side to unit conversions
To   : All
From : August Abolins
Date : Tue Apr 03 2001 05:12 am

A Lighter Side to Unit Conversions 
By Kevin Self, Contributing Editor, Spectrum Magazine 

In doing their jobs, engineers must sometimes juggle different systems of units 
when called upon to switch between slugs (a gravitational unit of mass) and 
kilograms, volts and abvolts, and board feet and cubic meters. 

Most of the time, such conversions are at best a chore. At worst, they can 
present an opportunity for disaster, as happened with the loss of the Mars 
Climate Orbiter in September 1999. That spacecraft's fiery demise in the 
Martian atmosphere was attributed in part to the failure of system engineers to 
convert critical parameters between different systems of units. 

 Not all conversions need be a drudge, however, as a recent e-mail forwarded by 
Chris Vanderbilt of Flower Mound, Texas, proves. The e-mail that somehow ended 
up in Vanderbilt's in-box contained a list of unlikely yet humorous conversion 
factors between different units. Vanderbilt thought this collection of 
equivalencies, most of which are plays on words or puns, was humorous yet had a 
technical bent that engineers would find appealing. A few examples follow. 

Vaudeville comedians cum engineers may find this definition handy: the time 
between slipping on a peel and smacking the pavement is defined as 1 
bananosecond. 

Mathematicians living north of the Arctic Circle would, of course, know that 
the ratio of an igloo's circumference to its diameter is Eskimo Pi. The force 
exerted by 1 kilogram of falling figs would be 1 Fig Newton. 

Chemical engineers, or fans of ethyl alcohol in general, should know that 
365.25 days of drinking low-calorie beer (because it's less filling) is the 
same as 1 lite year. 

Fans of science fiction shows and surveyors who use the rod in linear 
measurement should certainly be familiar with this conversion: 16.5 feet in the 
Twilight Zone is equal to 1 Rod Serling. 

Anyone working in the medical industry might find it handy to know that half of 
a large intestine is equivalent to 1 semicolon, and that the basic unit of 
laryngitis is 1 hoarsepower. 

Involved in transportation? 10**6 bicycles are equivalent to 2 megacycles, and 
the time it takes to sail 220 yards at a rate of 1 nautical mile per hour is 1 
Knot-furlong. 

To round out the list, 1000 grams of wet socks makes 1 literhosen, 2 monograms 
can be used to form 1 diagram, 10 millipedes are equivalent to 1 centipede, 
and, in a pinch, 1012 microphones can be substituted for 1 megaphone. 



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