#
# Unit defintions
# 3 March 1998 M-J. Dominus (mjd-perl-units@plover.com).
# This file is in the PUBLIC DOMAIN.
# All rights abandoned.
#
# If you discover definitions of units that do not appear in this
# file, you are invited to mail them to mjd@pobox.com, so that I can
# include them in a future version. Please include the date of this
# file, 3 March 1996, with all such submissions.
# If a unit is defined as `***', that means
# it has no definition because it is a fundamental unit.
# Fundamental units:
# Seven instrinsic SI units:
gram ***
meter ***
second ***
ampere ***
candela ***
Kelvin ***
mole ***
# Two supplementary units
radian ***
steradian ***
# Some miscellany
dollar ***
bit ***
sheet *** # Of paper
turn *** # Of coiled wire
# DIMENSIONLESS
pi 3.1415926535897932386
two 2
half 1|2
e 2.718281828459045 # Why did I put this in? Oh, I don't know.
Neper 1 # Unit of logarithmic ratio
Np Neper
# Would it be better to make this a fundamental unit?
bel .868588963 Np # 2/ln(10) actually
B bel
dB decibel
# LENGTH
m meter
km kilometer
cm centimeter
mm millimeter
micron micrometer
inch 2.54 cm # This is the official definition and is exact
in inch
inches inch # plural
foot 12 inch
ft foot
feet foot
yard 3 feet
yd yard
mile 5280 feet
mi mile
nautical 1.151 # For `nautical mile'
parsec 1.91615e13 mi
# light year will be implied by `year' and `light' below
fathom 6 ft
cable 120 fathoms
league 3 mi
bolt 25 yd # Of cloth; bolt length varies from bolt to bolt
# 25 yd is typical
cubit 18 in
ell 45 in # More or less standard, although other ells
# have also been used.
hand 4 in
palm 3 in
span 9 in
pace 2.5ft
astronomicalunit 92.9 megamiles # Is this exact?
au astronomicalunit
rope 20 ft
skein 360 feet
# Surveyor's
furlong 1|8 mi
chain 1|10 furlong
rod 1|4 chain
link 1|100 chain
# Typographic
point .013837 in
pt point
bigpoint 1|72 in
pica 12 pt
didot 1238|1157 pt
dd didot
cicero 12dd # TeX likes to abbreviate this to cc, but cc is cubic centimeter
scaledpoint 1|65536 pt # Internal to TeX
sp scaledpoint
# AREA
are (10 m)2 # Implies `hectare'
acre chain furlong # Now you know why an acre is the size it is
rood 1|4 acre
township 36 mi2 # Who uses these?
barn (1.0E-12 centimeter)2 # Particle physics
board 144 in3/ft # Implies `board feet'
# VOLUME
cc cm3
liter (decimeter)3
ml milliliter
stere m3
floz 29.573 ml # `floz' means `fluid ounce', which is different
# from `ounce', which is a measurement of mass.
# See `pound' below for more details.
fldram 1|8 floz
minim 1|60 fldram
cup 8 floz
cu cup
gill 1|2 cup
pint two cups
quart two pints
pottle two quarts # Yup!
gallon two pottles
qt quart
gal gallon
tablespoon 1|2 floz
tbsp tablespoon
teaspoon 1|3 tbsp
tsp teaspoon
cordfoot 16 ft2 # NOT the same as `cord foot'.
cordfeet cordfoot
cord 8 cordfeet
# Barrels are complicated. `Barrel' here means `U.S. liquid barrel'.
barrel 31.5 gal
bbl barrel
hogshead two barrels
butt two hogsheads
tun two butts
firkin 9 gal # American firkin, not British firkin
perch 24.75 ft3 # Masonry
puncheon 84 gal
# Delightful British liquid volumes; they all begin with `brit'.
britfloz 28.41225 ml
britminim 1|480 britfloz
britdrachm 1|8 britfloz
drachm britdrachm # U.S. drachm is spelled `dram'.
britgill 5 britfloz # five, NOT four.
britnoggin britgill
noggin britnoggin # Yeah, as though anyone else would have a `noggin.'
britpint 4 britgill
britpt britpint
britquart 2 britpint
britqt britquart
britgallon 4 britquart
britgal britgallon
britpeck 2 britgal
britfirkin 9 britgal
britkilderkin two britfirkins
kilderkin britkilderkin # kilderkin is British only
britbucket 4 britgal # That's `britbucket,' not `bit bucket'.
bucket britbucket # Buckets are brit only.
britlast 2909.414 liters
last britlast
# Dry volume
dry 1.164904862579 # For `dry pint,' `dry quart,' etc.
peck 8 dry quarts
bushel 4 pecks
bu bushel
seam 8bu
bag 3bu
imperial 1.201 # For `imperial pint,' etc.
# MASS (also WEIGHT)
#
# To avoid confusing the end user, we will pretend that `pound' is
# a unit of mass, interconvertible with `grams'. If you want
# pounds of force, see `lbf,' below. In this section, `pound'
# really means `mass of an object that weighs one-pound at the surface
# of the Earth.' That is, in this program, `slug' has its usual
# meaning, and `pound' is synonymous aith `slug'.
g gram
kg kilogram
metricton kilokilogram
tonne metricton
mg milligram
grain 64.79891 mg
ounce 437.5 grains
oz ounce
pound 16 oz
lb pound
slug lb
hundredweight 112 lb # This is the `long' hundredweight, analagous to
# the long ton. There is also a `short' hundredwight,
# but it's just a hectlb, so I put this one in instead.
cwt hundredweight
quarter 5 cwts
longton 20 cwt
ton longton
short 100|112 # Convert long tons, cwts, and quarters to short.
shortton short ton
stone 14 lb
cental 100 lb
wey 252 lb
# Obscure apothecaries' measures
scruple 20 grains
dram 3 scruples
apothounce 480 grains
apothoz apothounce
apothpound 12 apothoz
apothlb apothpound
# Troy measures (for gold and precious stones)
pennyweight 24 grains
troyoz 480 grains # We can't define `troy' as a constant,
# because there are 16 oz in a lb, but only
# 12 troyoz in a troylb, so at least one of
# `troy oz' or `troy lb' would be wrong.
troylb 12 troyoz
carat 3.08647 grain # Metric version. Is this useful?
atomicmassunit 1.6605402e-27 kg # NIST 19990301 (+/- 0.10e-33 kg)
amu atomicmassunit
quintal 100kg # Metric quintal. Wasn't there another quintal?
elvis 255lb # At the time of his death, the King weighed 255 lb.
# TIME
sec second
s second
minute 60 sec
min minute
hour 60 min
hr hour
day 24 hrs
dy day # This will denote mean solar days
siderealday 0.99726957 dys
week 7 days
wk week
month 30 days
lunarmonth 29.530588 days # Mean solar days
meanmonth 730 hours
mo month
tropicalyear 365.24219 dys # Mean solar days
siderealyear 365.25636 dys # Mean solar days
leapyear 366 dys # Mean solar days
calendaryear 365 dys # Mean solar days
year tropicalyear # Correct on average for most calculations
yr years
fortnight two weeks
decade 10 years
century 100 years
millennium 1000 years
millennia millennium
centuries century
# Velocity
knot 1 nautical mi/hour
# SCIENTIFIC
#
# Electromagnetic items, work, force, energy.
#
# Velocity
c 299792458 m/s # NIST 19990301 EXACT
light c # Implies `light year'
# Absolute temperature
kelvin Kelvin
K Kelvin
Rankine 1.8 K # This is a very funny unit
Ra Rankine
# Amount of substance
mol mole
Avogadro 6.0221367e23
avogadro Avogadro
molecule 1 mole per Avogadro
# Current
# The Ampere is fundamental here, defined as the constant current
# which, if maintained in two straight parallel conductors of infinite
# length, of negligible circular cross-section, and placed 1m apart in
# vacuum, would produce between these conductors a force equal to 2e-7
# newtons per meter of length.
Ampere ampere
amp ampere
abampere 10 amps
abamp abampere
statampere 3.335635e-11 abamperes
statamp statampere
# What is this called? Is it capitalized? Is there an abbreviation?
gilbert 0.79577472 ampere turns
# Electrostatic charge
Coulomb ampere sec
coulomb Coulomb
coul Coulomb
C Coulomb
electron 1.60217733e-19 C # Charge on the electron; implies electron-volts
e electron
abcoulomb 10C
statcoulomb 3.335635e-11 abcoulomb
# Force
Newton kg m/s2
newton Newton
N newton
dyne g cm/s2
grav 9.8 m/s2 # Acceleration due to gravity
gee grav
# Actually the accleration varies with altitude and latitude,
# from 9.78039 m/s2 at the equator to 9.83217 m/s2 at the poles.
# This mean value corresponds to a latitude of about 38 degrees.
lbf lb grav
# Pressure
Pascal N/m2
pascal Pascal
Pa pascal
atmosphere 1.01325 N/m2 # NIST 1990301 EXACT
atm atmosphere
bar megadyne/cm2 # Implies `millibars'
mercury 1|760 atm/mm # Implies `mm mercury' and `inches mercury'
hg mercury
torricelli mm hg
torr torricelli
water .0295 atm/ft # Implies `feet water'
barye dyne/cm2
air 6.6083e-5 atm/foot # At 60 deg.F; Implies `feet air'
# Work and energy
Joule newton-meter
joule Joule
J joule
footpound ft-lbf # foot-pound won't work, because `pound' is a mass
calorie 4.186 J
cal calorie
kcal kilocalorie
britishthermalunit 1054.8 J
btu britishthermalunit
erg dyne-cm
# Kilowatt-hour (kWh) will be implied by `Watt'.
# Power
Watt J/sec
watt Watt
W Watt
horsepower 550 ft-lbf/s
# Electric potential
Volt W/amp
volt Volt
V Volt
abvolt 1|100 microvolt
statvolt 2.997930e10 V
# Frequency
cycle 1 # For `cycles per second'
Hertz cycles per second
Hz Hertz
hz Hz
# Inductance
Henry volt s/amp
henry Henry
H Henry
abhenry 1.0e-9 henry
Henries Henry # For plural
henries Henry
stathenry 8.987584e11 henries
stathenries stathenry
# Etc.
Weber volt s
weber Weber
Wb weber
Tesla Wb/m2
tesla Tesla
T tesla
Oersted 1|4 pi kiloamp/m
oersted Oersted
Oe oersted
Maxwell 1.0e-8 Wb
maxwell Maxwell
Mx Maxwell
Gauss 1.0e-4 T
gauss Gauss
# We won't use G for Gauss because it is more important to
# use it for the universal gravitational constant
# Capacitance
# `farad' is *not* an abbreviation for `Faraday' as far as I can tell.
farad amp sec / volt
F farad
abfarad 1.0e9 farad
statfarad 1.112646e-13 farad
# Resistance
Ohm volt/amp
ohm Ohm
abohm 1.0e-9 ohm
statohm 8.987584e11 Ohms
# Conductance
mho 1/ohm
abmho 1/abohm
Siemens mho
siemens Siemens
# Misc
Angstrom 1.0e-10 m
angstrom Angstrom
G 6.67259e-11 N m2/kg2 # Newton gravitational constant NIST19990301
lightyear light year # Common abbreviation
eV e V # Electron volts
ev eV
kev kiloeV
Mev megaeV
Gev gigaeV
Tev teraeV
energy c2 # You can ask for `1 gram energy' and get
# the amount of energy equivalent to
# 1 gram according to e=mc2.
# Check: 1amu energy == 931.16 Mev?
Franklin (10/c) C cm/sec
Fr Franklin
franklin Franklin
Biot 10 amp
Bi Biot
biot Biot
# Viscosity - Maybe someone who understands this better can check.
poise g/(cm s) # Named after M. Poiseuille
rhe 1/poise
reyn (lbf s)/in2
# Kinematic viscosity = viscosity per unit density
stoke cm2/s
# Refrigeration - Maybe someone who understands this better can check.
refrigeration 288000 btu/ton
ice tons refrigeration / 2009.1 lb
# Light
# The candela is fundamental here. Prior to 1979, it was defined as
# the luminous intensity of a black body at the temperature of
# solidification of platinum, whose radiating surface is 1/60 cm2. It
# is now the luminous intensity, in a given direction, of a source
# that emits monochromatic radiation of frequency 540e12 Hz and that
# has a radiant intensity in that direction of 1|683 W/sr
cd candela
sr steradian
lumen candela sr
lm lumen
lux lm/m2
lx lux
candlepower 12.566370 lumens
candle candela # ``International standard candle''
Hefner 0.90 candles # This was the German standard in early C20.
hefner Hefner
Lambert lm/cm2
lambert Lambert
footcandle lm/ft2 # NOT the same as foot-candle.
phot 1.0e4 lx
stilb candle/m2 # Same as a pi lambert
# Various important physical constants
# I got this stuff from physics.nist.gov on 19990301.
h 6.6260755e-27 erg-sec # Planck's constant
hbar h/(2 pi)
plancklength 1.61605e-35 m
planckmass 2.17671e-8 kg
plancktime 5.39056e-44 sec
# Let's reserve `Planck' for a while longer until I can decide if
# they'd be useful in `planck time' etc.
permeability 4*pi*1.0e-7 H/m # Magnetic permeability of vacuum constant
permittivity 8.854187817e-12 F/m # Electric permittivity of vacuum constant
protonmass 1.6726231e-27 kg
neutronmass 1.6749286e-27 kg
electronmass 9.1093897e-31 kg
finestructure 7.29735308e-3 # Rl
# Electron charge is up above under `electrostatic'.
# There's no reason to get too obscure here because if someone wants
# they can make up an `obscure physical constants' file that
# physiscists could load in if they wanted to. So I've omitted stuff
# like the magnetic moment of the muon.
# ANGULAR
rad radian
circle 2 pi radians
revolution circle # For revolutions / sec
rev revolution
rpm revolutions per minute
quadrant 1|4 circle
degree 1|360 circle
arcminute 1|60 degree
arcsecond 1|60 arcminute
arcmin arcminute
arcsec arcsecond
sphere 4 pi steradians
grade 1|100 quadrant
grad grade
# PAPER
quire 50 sheets
ream 10 quires
# INFORMATION
byte 8 bits
kbyte 1024 bytes # `kilobyte' means 1000 bytes
# Don't use `K'; that's for Kelvins.
kb kbyte
Kb kbyte
KB kbyte
mbyte 1024 kbytes # `megabyte' means 1000000 bytes
meg mbyte
kbit 1024 bits
Kbit kbit
mbit 1024 kbits
Mbit mbit
baud bit/sec # Not strictly correct
# MONEY
#
# Conversions accurate only as of 25 November 1996.
#
$ dollar
usdollar $
usd $
us$ $
$us $
US$ $
$US $
cent 1|100 $
Australia.dollar 0.8123$
AUS$ Australia.dollar
Austria.schilling 0.09438$
Belgium.franc 0.03223$
Brazil.real 0.9709$
British.pound 1.681$
pound.sterling British.pound
sterling British.pound
Canada.dollar 0.7468$
Can$ Canada.dollar
Cayman.currency 1.22$
Denmark.krone 0.173$
krone Denmark.krone
EuropeanCommunityUnit.ECU 1.278$
ECU EuropeanCommunityUnit.ECU
ecu ECU
Finland.markka 0.2203$
markka Finland.markka
France.franc 0.1963$
franc France.franc
Germany.mark 0.6647$
DM Germany.mark
Deutschmark DM
mark DM
Greece.drachma 0.004216$
drachma Greece.drachma
HongKong.dollar 0.1294$
HK$ HongKong.dollar
India.rupee 0.02797$
rupee India.rupee
Ireland.punt 1.684$
punt Ireland.punt
Israel.shekel 0.3623$
shekel Israel.shekel
Italy.lira 0.0006655$
Japan.yen 0.008976$
yen Japan.yen
Kenya.shilling 0.02376$
Malaysia.dollar 0.397$
Mexico.peso 0.1269$
peso Mexico.peso
Morocco.dirham 0.1248$
dirham Morocco.dirham
Netherlands.guilder 0.5924$
guilder Netherlands.guilder
NewZealand.dollar 0.7153$
NZ$ NewZealand.dollar
Norway.krone 0.1576$
krone Norway.krone
Portugal.escudo 0.006577$
escudo Portugal.escudo
Senegal.CFAfranc 0.002019$
SouthAfrica.rand 0.2169$
rand SouthAfrica.rand
Spain.peseta 0.007896$
peseta Spain.peseta
Sweden.krona 0.1513$
krona Sweden.krona
Switzerland.franc 0.788$
swissfranc Switzerland.franc
Swissfranc Switzerland.franc
Turkey.lira 1.3e-05$
# Old-style Brit money. Did I omit anything interesting?
sovereign sterling
shilling 1|20 sterling
penny 1|12 shilling
pence penny
farthing 1|4 penny
hapenny half penny
twopence two pence
tuppence two pence
crown 5 shillings # Implies `half crown'
guinea 21 shillings
florin 2 shillings
# For `register tons'
register 100 ft3/ton
registerton register ton
# What's missing?
# bequerel (nucleotide radioactivity): Bq = k/s k=1??
# gray (absorbed dose): Gy = k J/kg k=1??
# sievert (dose equivalent): Sv = k J/kg k=1??
# curie: Ci = 3.3e10 Bq
# roentgen: R = 2.58e-4 C/kg
# rad: rad = centigray
# rem: rem = centisievert