On 2010/06/11, at 03:47 , Martin Vlietstra wrote:
Barrels are the unit of measure used in the international oil
markets.
The oil industry is one of the least metric industries that I
know. One of their units of measure is to express oil reserves in
a reservoir in barrels per acre-foot. In metric parlance, this
would be expressed as a percentage (or decimal fraction).
Dear Martin,
Firstly, the 'barrel' for oil never actually existed.
Secondly, I don't think it is correct to call it a unit as it has
several so-called 'definitions'. I have heard it described as 42
gallons (USA), 35 gallons (UK), and 159 litres (presumably in Europe),
see http://www.sizes.com/units/barrel_petr.htm for further confusion.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, see
http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html
Hear Pat speak at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lshRAPvPZY
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From: owner-u...@colostate.edu [mailto:owner-u...@colostate.edu] On
Behalf Of Stephen Humphreys
Sent: 10 June 2010 18:41
To: U.S. Metric Association
Subject: [USMA:47650] Re: Oil Spill Technical Team Using SI
I was of the understanding that 'barrels' was an international thing
used only by the oil companies.
Interesting that this international company has stirred up a bit of
anti-brit feeling in the US (not on this list though) where BP is
truly an international company like Ford.
Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2010 08:26:35 -0700
From: jmsteele9...@sbcglobal.net
Subject: [USMA:47641] Re: Oil Spill Technical Team Using SI
To: usma@colostate.edu
I hope that is a joke, as I KNOW you understand precision and
sensible rounding.
However, we have some "decimal dusters" who might not get it.
The 1000 m is of course one of "those" numbers where you ask how
many of those digits are significant.
Given a vertical plume, and general lack of precision in
measurements at sea, I'm guessing 1 or 2, although clearly it is a
guess.
However, I do wonder why British Petroleum measures the leak in
American "barrels." Do they think they are aidding or hindering
understanding? Given the range, that figure has no significant
figures and the order of magnitude seems debatable.
From: "mech...@illinois.edu" <mech...@illinois.edu>
To: U.S. Metric Association <usma@colostate.edu>
Sent: Thu, June 10, 2010 11:00:56 AM
Subject: [USMA:47640] Re: Oil Spill Technical Team Using SI
Pat,
In my local newspaper I read that an oil plume was located at a
depth of "3 300 feet" which was probably reported at 1 000 meters.
i.e. 3 300 x 0.3048 = 1 005.84 meters. Note the discrepancy of 5.84
meters between the value reported and the numbed down value
disseminated by the Associated Press.
Shame on the AP distortion!
Gene,
Censor of Deviations from SI
---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2010 11:29:29 +1000
>From: Pat Naughtin <pat.naugh...@metricationmatters.com>
>Subject: [USMA:47625] Re: Oil Spill Technical Team Using SI
>To: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu>
>
> Dear Gene,
> You might be interested in this article in our local
> newspaper, 'The
> Age':
http://www.theage.com.au/world/experts-at-loggerheads-over-oil-leak-rate-20100608-xtlj.html
> Since each of the sources has their own
> 'down-dumber' I don't suppose we can have any
> confidence whether the original data (kilograms,
> litres, cubic metres, metres per minute, metres per
> hour, gallons UK, gallons USA, feet per minute, etc,
> ) is being reported reliable given the possibility
> of multiple conversion errors.
> Cheers,
>
> Pat Naughtin
>...
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