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Path: utzoo!utcsri!greg
From: greg@utcsri.UUCP (Gregory Smith)
Newsgroups: net.jokes
Subject: Re: scientific prefixes
Message-ID: <2430@utcsri.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 29-Mar-86 15:12:02 EST
Article-I.D.: utcsri.2430
Posted: Sat Mar 29 15:12:02 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 29-Mar-86 15:16:43 EST
References: <143@atari.UUcp> <1088@ism780c.UUCP> <313@tolerant.UUCP>
Reply-To: greg@utcsri.UUCP (Gregory Smith)
Distribution: net
Organization: CSRI, University of Toronto
Lines: 40
Summary: Yes, gas mileage is an area

In article <313@tolerant.UUCP> berry@handel.UUCP (David W. Berry) writes:
>In article <1088@ism780c.UUCP> you write:
>>
>>Here is a good one: if you measure fuel efficiency of a car by 
>>how much gas it takes to go a given distance, one can get some 
>>neat units.  For example, my car was recently getting 19 
>>picoacres...  
>>
>	But acres are a measure of area, not distance.  Therefore
>it is meaningless to compute gallons/picoacres unless you are trying
>to compute how much gas it will take to spread your car out over a
>given area, presumably by rapid combustion... :-)

Get real. Fuel efficiency can be measured in (Gallons Used)/(Distance
Travelled) which is a cubic measure divided by a linear measure, and
it is perfectly valid to express this in terms of area.

Think of this:
	(1) find a perfectly straight, level, infinite road
	(2) Dig an infinite  straight trench along the side of the road with
	    a cross-sectional area of 19 picoacres
	(3) Fill the trench with gasoline ( an infinite amount :-) )
	(4) Affix a scoop to the side of the above-mentioned car
	    which sits in the trench, scoops up gasoline
	    and pumps it to the gas tank.
	(5) Drive the car along the road.

Ideally the level of gas in the tank will remain constant, regardless of
speed ( I know, the efficiency *will* vary with speed, but this is one
those *ideal* days when you can find infinite straight level roads, etc).
How's that for a physical interpretation? Note: the smaller the area, the
lower your gas bills.
>
>	I'm only here for the beer.

	(6) Have another.
-- 
"If you aren't making any mistakes, you aren't doing anything".
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Greg Smith     University of Toronto      UUCP: ..utzoo!utcsri!greg