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A metric tonne (1000 kg) should be called a megagram (1 Mg). (lemmy.ca)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
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[–] 9 points 3 years ago* (2 children)

Cuz the gram came before the SI system and the kilogram is a much more useable unit. The original m-g-s are based on physical things, like m being a subdivision of the length from the North Pole to the Equator going through Paris, and s being related to the time of a pendulum with certain length swinging or smth

A gram is the weight of 1 mL of water, roughly.

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  • [–] 6 points 3 years ago

    I remember in some old astronomy textbooks they used units based on CGS (cm-g-s) as opposed to MKS (m-kg-s). It was pretty weird, as they had terms to go with that system like dynes instead of newtons for force. But at least it wasn't imperial.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Which is 1 cm³ of water if we want to stay in SI. And if that's the basis for it, then why not make a gram = the weight of 1 dm³ of water and then we wouldn't need a prefix for weights in the stuff-we-usually-carry-around range. It still doesn't make sense to me to have a prefixed unit being the base unit.

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