This question stemmed from a conversation about measuring the speed of two very different objects. I realized that, unlike other measures that have their own units (length, mass, etc.), speed is measured using a ratio of distance and time. So I was wondering, does the size of the objects get factored into the measurement somehow? If speed is only ever measured using this distance/time approach (mph, for example), then wouldn’t the measure of speed become problematic since a large object is able to cover more distance than a small object?
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You might find that ratio measurements are more common than you’d think. Take weight, for example: it’s a measure of force, which means it’s not just a “how much stuff” measure, but a “how much stuff being pulled so far per unit time squared.”
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