>Geoff Lambert wrote:
>> The conversion for speeds is dead easy, so long as you remember that
>> the conversion factor from furlongs per fortnight to cm per min is
>> 1.00
>So acceleration was measured in furlongs per fortnight per fortnight?
Yes. The accelaration due to gravity, which is 32 feet per second per
second, is 1.443 * 10 ^-8 furlongs per fortnight per fortnight and has
the symbol "g". This unit of accelaration based on the furlong was
(naturally) mostly used in horse-racing, where it had the symbol "g-g"
The accelaration of a Tangara is said to be about 1 * 10 ^-9 furlongs
per fortnight per fortnight (?)
And, if you're in the mood for it, you might like to calculate the
train resistance at 50 kph, and subsequent accelaration, for a train
running north-south compared with one running east-west at the
latitude of Sydney, due to the so-called "Coriolis effect" induced by
the Earth's rotation. The magazine "Railway Engineer" ran a complete
analsyis in the 1930's. The effect is readily measurable with a
modern dynamometer car and there is a Dutch university newsgroup
devoted to such obscure physical/engineering trivia.
Geoff Lambert
Geoff Lambert