colonel@sunybcs.UUCP (Col. G. L. Sicherman) (12/24/85)
> Whoever > > is(Henry Schaffer), is right. Whoever > is, is wrong. > A GRAM IS A UNIT OF MASS. A POUND IS A UNIT OF FORCE, DEPENDENT ON EXTERNAL > VARIABLES. MASS IS INDEPENDENT OF EXTERNAL VARIABLES. As Henry said, although > not very clear, and it may confuse some people, a gram is the metric unit of > mass. A slug is the American (English??) unit of mass. No, Gary Grady is right. Laymen don't need to distinguish mass from weight, but physicists do. They originally made the pound a unit of mass, and called the corresponding unit of weight the poundal. Later they switched horses and made the pound a unit of force, calling the corresponding unit of mass the slug. The distinction is needless in weighing feathers or gold. If you disagree, walk into a shop and say, "Give me a kilo of cheese, and DON'T WEIGH IT!" "Huckleberry Hound, Put him in the pound." --Len Cool -- Col. G. L. Sicherman UU: ...{rocksvax|decvax}!sunybcs!colonel CS: colonel@buffalo-cs BI: csdsicher@sunyabva