Dear Bill, Thank for your comments. It has made me think a little more about the Australian choice of volume units.
I am aware that the use of the litre as the base for Australian volume units has the disadvantages that you point out. However, with hindsight, it did have one major advantage � it was simple to learn, easy to introduce, and quite quick to be generally adopted. While I know that BIPM takes a different view, I am also aware that the constructions, cubic centimetres, cubic decimetres, and cubic metre, are quite clumsy when compared to millilitres, litres, and kilolitres; and this clumsiness is compounded when we need to use megalitres, gigalitres, and even larger units as we consider water volumes on the Earth's driest continent. I suspect that BIPM (and CIPM) meetings might get quite heated on this point as the practical folk debate the theoretical people � personally, I am quite ambivalent because while I understand the benefits of coherence, I also understand some of the best ways to go about a metrication transition that is smooth and rapid and I am torn between the two paths. Cheers, Pat Naughtin LCAMS Geelong, Australia Pat Naughtin is the editor of the free online newsletter, 'Metrication matters'. You can subscribe by sending an email containing the words subscribe Metrication matters to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- on 2004-05-16 05.48, Bill Hooper at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > On 2004 May 15 , at 2:09 AM, Pat Naughtin wrote: >> Keep in mind that Australia chose the simple conversion table: >> >> 1000 millilitres = 1 litre >> 1000 litres = 1 kilolitre >> 1000 kilolitres = 1 megalitre >> >> for measuring volume and capacity. > > Interesting! But BIPM recommends not using kilolitres or megalitres (or > even millilitres). The litre is just a special name for the cubic > decimetre (according to BIPM) and its common multiples already have > other names which conform better to SI organization. > > 1 kilolitre = 1 cubic metre > 1 millilitre = 1 cubic centimetre > > (Admittedly, 1 megalitre is not just one cubic SI length unit, but it > is just 1000 cubic metres. And the cubic metre is the basic and > coherent SI volume unit.) > > But the main reason to avoid the litre and it's multiples is that the > litre is not coherent with the other SI units. (I discussed the > importance of coherence in another email some time ago.) > > I think it is unfortunate that Australia promotes non-SI units like the > kilolitre and megalitre. Everything else in Australia metrication seems > to have been done so admirably. > > Regards, > Bill Hooper > Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA > ======================== > SIMPLIFICATION begins with SI > ======================== >
