David Nebenzahl wrote:
On 9/8/2009 6:27 PM Puckdropper spake thus:

Morris Dovey wrote in :

Leon wrote:

Actually, volume and weight is where the metric system really
shines.

Really? What is the metric unit for weight?

Just yankin your chain. ;~)

Bakatcha

Newtons. But no one uses Newtons (except certain PDA users). Mass
is usually confused for weight. Just wait until we find life on
other planets and go there, just wait!

We'll probably be using a different measuring system by then. :-)

I know there's a certain amount of chain-yanking going on here, and
that I myself am contributing to it. Nonetheless, it seems to me that
this distinction here between weight and mass is a bunch of irrelevant
nitpicking by pointy-headed scientist types. To *most* human critters
on the planet, they're the same thing, practically speaking. Sheesh.

Who cares how much a bucket of cement weighs on the planet Snorlax?

Many places in engineering you care about the mass, not the weight--most
fluid dynamic calculations for example require knowing the density of the
fluid in mass/volume.