HF on Mars

[exoscientist]

That's quite a remarkanble story about Chu, Silylene. Are you sure that's the reason why he wasn't granted the Nobel?<br /> Politics in awarding of the Nobel is quite well known.<br /><br /><br /> Bob C. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[silylene old]

<i>Are you sure that's the reason why he wasn't granted the Nobel?</i><br />Well Bednorz and Mueller who ended up sharing the prize for superconducting metal oxide ceramics (TC <35-50 K) did deserve a prize. Many people thought Chu should have shared the same prize also for the insight he made from the high pressure data with Bednorz/Mueller ceramics would be analogous to substituting in the smaller metal atoms such as Y to create the 1-2-3 compounds (TC = 93- 120K). <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><em><font color="#0000ff">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</font></em> </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><font color="#0000ff"><em>I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function.</em></font> </div> </div>

 

[centsworth_II]

<i>"However ppm-ppb is NOT english terminology, it is international!"</i> -- TheChemist<br /><br />Unfortunately, there's still plenty of room for miscommunication. Million in Italian is 'milione', billion is 'miliardo'. So, if someone is thinking in Italian, he may see ppm as representing either milione or miliardo. Sloppy to be sure, but an understandable human mistake. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[silylene old]

Similarly, in British, a billion isn't necessarily a billion (at least for nonscientists).<br /><br />from Oxford dictionary, for a distinctly British point of view:<br />http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/billion?view=uk<br /><br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>How many is a billion?<br /><br />If you are American, it is undoubtedly 1,000,000,000. This amount is known to traditionally minded British people as `a thousand million', and by some more adventurous ones as a 'milliard', though this word has not made as much headway in English as in some other European languages. A trillion is then 1,000,000,000,000, and so on. <br /><br />If you are British, on the other hand, a billion may be 1,000,000,000,000 (a million million), following the older convention. <br /><br />If you are neither British nor American, you can take your pick! (Both systems were invented by the French, but are called 'British' and 'American' for convenience.) <br /><br />Once the business world and the financial press found themselves discussing `thousand millions' so much, the 'American' system simply became more convenient, despite a certain lack of logical tidiness. (A 'British' trillion is the third power of a million, while the 'American' one is the fourth power of a thousand, and the 'American' system continues out of sync with the arithmetic). It also makes the profits sound bigger! The 'American' system is now standard use in British government publications, and is becoming the norm in many other languages. {my comment: Interesting how it becomes an "American problem" <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" />}<br /><br />................ `American' `British' <br />10E12 .........trillion ..........billion <br />10E15......... quadrillion ...thousand billion <br />10E18 .........quintillion.. ..trillion <br />10E21 ........sextillion ....thousand trillion <br />10E24</p></blockquote> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><em><font color="#0000ff">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</font></em> </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><font color="#0000ff"><em>I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function.</em></font> </div> </div>

 

[JonClarke]

The imperial ton is a long ton, as opposed to the short ton used in the US, so called because if you deal in US tonnes you are short changed. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />Both come from tun, originally a measure of of wine based round the size of a barrel. Different palces had different sizes of barrels. That is why the civilised world uses metric.<br /><br />Cheers<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>

 

[centsworth_II]

And who can forget this horrible result of a mixup between english and metric units:<br /><br />"The Mars Climate Orbiter was lost at the Red Planet....[T]he mission's navigation team...failed to detect a mistake by outside engineers who delivered navigation information in English rather than metric units...." <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[newtonian]

TheChemist - billiard tables aside:<br /><br />What proportion is flourine produced in star (stellar) synthesis?