I might just be stupid because math is not my strong suit, but it seems like the fact that metric units are able to convert between mass and energy so cleanly is astounding. Especially since the metric system was invented so long before relativity, meaning these units were obviously not designed with this in mind.
What’s am I missing here? Is it possible to write an equivalent equation for imperial units?
In: Mathematics
When the metric system was created, we didn’t know about this equation, but we did want to define new units in terms of old units. So a joule is 1 kg * m^2 / s^2 .
We didn’t do this with the imperial system. A British thermal unit would be 25,307 lbs * ft^2 / s ^ 2 . A slightly better option is the foot pound force, which is 32.17 lbs * ft^2 / s^2 (because this unit is based on Earth’s gravity, where acceleration is 32.17 ft / s^2 ).
Latest Answers