On 10/11/13 6:22 PM, Tom Carter wrote:
Steve -
Mostly going for "other units" (I like "oz-mol"s . . . but I also like the
"teaspoon-mol" -- what it might have been if the British had taken charge . . . :-) -- but going in the
direction of something like "science as an embodied, social/political activity", etc., etc. . . .
Also, distinguishing (somehow or other) between "natural constants" (e.g., Avogadro's Number is roughly the number of atoms in your pinky, which depends
strongly on you being "human sized" rather than, say, "planet sized" -- viz. "Solaris" by Stanislas Lem -- or "bacterium sized")
and "constants of nature" (e.g., the mass of an electron, or the speed of light . . .). Meters, grams, seconds, for example, are "human sized"
units. They're only "natural" in the sense that humans are part of nature. Wikipedia on the Metric System has a paragraph starting "At the outbreak of
the French Revolution in 1789, most countries and even some cities had their own system of measurement." (and thus, sort of, my question . . . :-)
So you are saying that a significant consequence (or correlated change?)
of the French Revolution was the standardization of measuring systems
across europe?
It seems that before travel (and trade) was very extensive, local
measures were fine... A foot is a foot, even if the local ruler is a
midget or giant... all locals have the opportunity to calibrate to the
"ruler's foot" and all the traders are motivated to do the same when
they arrive at any given locale. I assume there was even something like
arbitrage going on where the size of your ruler's foot may have given
you a minor (dis)advantage in trade? But then there would be local
currency as well... Guilders per cubic knuckle vs Florens per cubic
nose-length? Tower of Babel indeed! The thing about standards is that
we have so many to choose from!
Anyway, the discussion goes on . . . in a class I'm teaching now, we're reading Bruno
Latour's "Pandora's Hope" . . .
Also, forgot this reference in my previous post: I've recently been carrying around
"Time's Arrow: The Origins of Thermodynamic Behavior" by Michael G. Mackey . .
. nice little book . . .
I remember when Time's Arrow came out... it was an excellent (highly
motivated) layman's guide to some of the more interesting unexpected
implications of thermodynamics. I'd recommend it to Nick for his
contemplation of the deeper meaning of Entropy.
Thanks . . .
tom
p.s. More pedagogy: Which weighs more, a pound of gold or a pound of wheat?
(And, for extra credit, which weighs more, an ounce of gold or an ounce of
wheat?) (explain your answers . . . :-)
I think we are returning to the domain of the Buttload (earlier
thread)... and a distinction between troy and avoirdupois. I
remember being excited at the (relative) absoluteness of the Mole as a
measure to bootstrap from. Similarly Pi and "c". The "intrinsic"
measure of a "grain" is of course, also regionally/circumstantially
adjusted... I'm reminded that precious metals/gems *and* gunpowder still
use the "grain" as a basic measure.
(I'm teaching an undergraduate "General Education" course for Juniors in our Honor's
program, called "Methods of Discovery" . . .)
This sounds like a very good course for many... where do you teach? Is
this part of a liberal arts or more science/engineering program? In my
day, it was strictly the luck of the draw whether you happened upon a
teacher/professor who offered anything more than the dry, linear
interpretation of well... pretty much everything/anything.
- Steve
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