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From: colonel@sunybcs.UUCP (Col. G. L. Sicherman)
Newsgroups: net.puzzle
Subject: Re: feathers vs. gold, weight vs. mass
Message-ID: <2656@sunybcs.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 24-Dec-85 12:45:36 EST
Article-I.D.: sunybcs.2656
Posted: Tue Dec 24 12:45:36 1985
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>       Whoever > > is(Henry Schaffer), is right. Whoever > is, is wrong.
> A GRAM IS A UNIT OF MASS. A POUND IS A UNIT OF FORCE, DEPENDENT ON EXTERNAL
> VARIABLES. MASS IS INDEPENDENT OF EXTERNAL VARIABLES. As Henry said, although
> not very clear, and it may confuse some people, a gram is the metric unit of
> mass. A slug is the American (English??) unit of mass.

No, Gary Grady is right.  Laymen don't need to distinguish mass from
weight, but physicists do.  They originally made the pound a unit of
mass, and called the corresponding unit of weight the poundal.  Later
they switched horses and made the pound a unit of force, calling the
corresponding unit of mass the slug.

The distinction is needless in weighing feathers or gold.  If you disagree,
walk into a shop and say, "Give me a kilo of cheese, and DON'T WEIGH IT!"


	"Huckleberry Hound,
	 Put him in the pound."  --Len Cool
-- 
Col. G. L. Sicherman
UU: ...{rocksvax|decvax}!sunybcs!colonel
CS: colonel@buffalo-cs
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