Decimal time will never be a practical proposition so long as the length of
the day and the year are regarded as natural cycles to which all measurement
of civil time must relate. You can't decimalise both the day and the year
together because you're stuck with 365.2422 days in a year.
Future generations that have the power to terraform planets might be able to
mess with the rate of spin but the dire consequences of doing that with
Earth will probably outweigh the advantages (think of the effect on
climate).
Decimalsation of other measurements have always been a practical proposition
with overwhelming advantages and since it has was started two centuries ago
with most of the world now using it, there is an compelling case to finish
the job.
Phil Hall
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Hooper" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu>
Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2006 5:38 AM
Subject: [USMA:35663] decimal time
On 2006 Jan 14 , at 2:46 PM, Paul Trusten, R.Ph. wrote:
We've talked about decimal time
here (a 10-hour day, etc.)
In SI, time is already decimal; it is measured in seconds,
kiloseconds, milliseconds, etc.
Civil time ("time of day") is measured in non-SI units that are so
thoroughly (but debatably) ingrained into society that even the
powers of SI have agreed that hours and minutes (and even days and
years) are acceptable "for use WITH the SI".
So, anyone who wishes to change the number of hours in a day, minutes
in an hour or seconds in a minute may do so as much as they please
without any effect on SI (PROVIDED that the size of the second is not
changed). If you like, go to it.
Any such plan has to recognize that there
are 86 400 seconds (or 86.4 ks) in a day and whatever scheme one
could devise must accommodate that fact. It is impractical in the
extreme to consider changing the length of the second, and it is
impossible (with foreseeable technology) to change the length of the
day (the rotation of the Earth).
It may be, that for measuring civil time, the minute and hour are no
worse than any other possible arrangement.
Regards,
Bill Hooper
Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA
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SIMPLIFICATION begins with SI
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