[time-nuts] Measurements

[Ulrich Bangert]

Steve,

> .....They HAD to adopt common measurement system 
> of some kind, and they sure weren't going to use anything that the 
> English did!

So it was! However, the idea to make something completely new and not to
follow something existing did not result from political reasoning or from
what countries they had a friendship with or not.

The basic idea behind creating something new was: The new measures should
make sense to EVERYBODY who was forced by law to make use of them and should
therefore make it easy for everybody to adopt them. This reasoning is well
backed up by other ideas falling into the time of the French revolution.  

For example: Since we all share mother earth it was decided that the meter
should have a definition that is based on the size of earth. So the original
definition of a meter was to be 1/40000 of or earth's circumference. This
lead to a minor problem: Earth's circumference was not well known at that
times. Which in turn lead to the invention of a new class of surveyor
instruments, which in turn enabled the French to measure the distance from
the equator to the north pole (assumed to be 1/4 of the circumference) with
a precision that must be admired even from a today point of view. I do not
know the english term for it but in German these instruments are called
"Repetitionskreis". You can find a pictue of one here:

http://www.bistumsmuseen-regensburg.de/html/ausstellungen_moenche_repetition
skreis.htm

A very good literature about this topic is Ken Alders "The measure of all
Things"

Best regards
Ulrich Bangert

   

> -----Ursprungliche Nachricht-----
> Von: time-nuts-bounces at febo.com 
> [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] Im Auftrag von steve gunsel
> Gesendet: Freitag, 21. August 2009 13:56
> An: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
> Betreff: Re: [time-nuts] Measurements
> 
> 
> At least an acre is acre throughout the US (I think).  The real 
> problem was in olden France where virtually all measurements varied 
> from village to village. So a bushel of wheat in one locality 
> differed from a bushel elsewhere. Same with all of the other units. 
> Made for nasty trade issues once they expanded beyond dealing with 
> the immediate neighbors. They HAD to adopt common measurement system 
> of some kind, and they sure weren't going to use anything that the 
> English did!  
> 
> 
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