Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!seismo!hao!hplabs!sri-unix!buck@NRL-CSS From: buck%NRL-CSS@sri-unix.UUCP Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers Subject: A universal system of units Message-ID: <15244@sri-arpa.UUCP> Date: Mon, 9-Jan-84 21:20:43 EST Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.15244 Posted: Mon Jan 9 21:20:43 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 13-Jan-84 04:05:38 EST Lines: 19 From: Joe Buck ... should be based on universal physical constants. One possibility is a system of units based on c (speed of light), h (Planck's constant), m (mass of electron), and e (charge of electron). In this system, the unit of length is h/(mc) and the unit of time is h/(mc^2). Of course, all these units are very small, we would need a multiplying factor. These factors should be powers of two, rather than ten; different species will have different numbers of fingers (or whatever), but any species that builds computers will deal in powers of two, as it's simpler to build devices with two states than devices with more. Alternatively, G (the gravitational constant) and/or a0 (Bohr radius, the radius of the electron's orbit in the Bohr model) could replace any of c, h, or m. I'm sure there are other possibilities. The Pioneer 10 picture uses the wavelength emitted by the spin-flip of monatomic hydrogen - about 21 cm - as a unit in explaining the height of human beings.