[net.trivia] What Is An OUNCE?

rob@sri-unix (05/18/82)

    There are various units of weight and  measure.  The  two  (2)  most
common   in   the  United  States  are  the  U.   S.   Customary  System
(fundamental  units  are  *yards*  and  [avoirdupois]  pounds)  and  the
International  Metric  System  (fundamental units are meters, kilograms,
and seconds, i.e.  MKS).  The third most popular system is  the  British
Imperial System not really used too much in the US.

    In answer to  the  TRIVIA  question  of  "what  is  an  ounce?"  the
following  facts  were found in "The American Heritage DICTIONARY Of The
English Language, New College Editon", 1978, under "measurement".

				 WEIGHT

	US CUSTOMARY             METRIC                APOTHECARY
	(Avoirdupois)                                      (Troy)

	1-grain                 64.79891-milligrams     1-grain
	1-dram = 27.344-gr      1.772-grams             *
	*                       3.888-grams             1-dram = 60-gr
	1-ounce = 437.5-gr      28.350-grams            *
	1.097-ounces            31.103-grams            1-ounce = 480-gr
	1-pound = 16-ounces     453.59237-grams         *
	= 7000-grains
	0.823-pounds            373.242-grams           1-pound = 12-ounces
							= 5760-grains

    Enjoy,
    Rob Cardoza at SYTEK <ucbvax!menlo70!sytek!rob> (408) 734-9000

thomas (05/19/82)

Just this morning read in Scientific American (Science and the Citizen)
that the meter is in danger of being redefined as a derived unit.
They (always the ominous they) want to redefine the meter as a specific
fraction of the distance light travels in a second, reducing the number
of fundamental units by one.  (And, incidently, exactly defining the
speed of light - any further refinements would change the unit of length,
not the speed of light).
=Spencer  (harpo!utah-cs!thomas)
(Remember, you heard it first on USENET!)