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why don't people say mega meters
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2024
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Familiarity I guess. Mega isn't really a widely used prefix outside of computers. We even say tons instead of megagrams.
And yet we say megatons.
But only in regards of nuclear bombs. Maybe it's because of the scientific origins of these fields. Probably the same reasons why Americans measure firearm munition in mm.
Firearm's ammunition is a mixed bag because many military sizes are standardized with the rest of NATO. 5.56, 7.62, and 9 mm sure; but then you get a bunch measured in caliber .308, .45, .50.
And 7.62 is just .30 caliber rebranded
and the old gauge system for shotguns.
Now get ready for the 7mm-08
I've only recently gotten my foid card and am learning to shoot and that shit confuses me so much.
And your mom (⌐■-■)
we do list volcanic eruptions in megatons of TNT. The makers of the first a bomb pick it since the largest explosion ever made by then was a ship full explosives and some had calculated how many tons of TNT that ship was carrying
Instead of teragrams.
megaton, megawatt, megapascal, megacandela (for military flares), megahertz, megajoule, megaohm, megabequerel
Megatron
That's a lot of Trons
That's bad comedy
Megan
Damnit Meg
To be fair, mass is weird because the base unit is kg (yes, the name includes a prefactor). I have no idea how they managed to fuck it up that badly.
Apparently they were going to use gram for what we now call kg, but decided to make it kg. I expect it's because we used grams so much for food.
Yes, I think it's a question of use. I can't think of many examples where you would quickly need to know the measurement to the nearest Mm. Maybe if for some reason you deal with a lot of lunar orbits? Diameters of exoplanets?
Any earth distances we need to know with greater precision, and any stellar distances are probably better measured in light years, etc.
Odometer readings
"I've driven 112.326 megameters" takes the same amount of time to say as 112,326 kilometers. 🤷♂️