Remek, What can or can not be done with feet, miles, ft/s, mi/h, etc. however more awkward than the SI speed in m/s?
Either average speed is defined as total distance divided by total time, for either horizontal or vertical motion. ---- Original message ---- >Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2010 21:10:10 -0400 >From: Remek Kocz <rek...@gmail.com> >Subject: [USMA:48670] Re: Speed of Rescue >To: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu> >Cc: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu> > > You can do that with feet as well. Here's what you > can't: > > A miner is trapped 1,200 meters underground. How > many kilometers is that? In metric thinking, this > isn't even a math problem--it's just a part of life > in which longitudinal distances can be freely > compared to vertical distances. Consider the same > problem in feet: A miner is trapped 1,200 feet > underground. How many miles is that? If the > friendly reporter doesn't tell you, you may figure > 1200/5280 of a mile if you're mathematically > inclined, otherwise go figure. > > The ability to relate a vertical and longitudinal > distances because of easy unit conversion is one of > the more underrated advantages of the metric > system. It's something very practical that makes > you look at the world with a little more > appreciation. Knowing that Mt. Everest is nearly 9 > km without having to make any effort is actually > very nice. > > Remek > > On Wed, Oct 13, 2010 at 10:38 PM, > <mech...@illinois.edu> wrote: > > Here is a problem for students in elementary > school: > > A miner is trapped 600 meters underground in a > gold mine. > The rescue capsule requires 10 minutes to ascend > vertically from the mine through a rescue shaft to > the surface of the earth. > > What is the average speed of ascent of the miner > in his rescue capsule from the mine to the surface > in meters per second (m/s)?
