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Old August 19th 03, 06:13 PM
Dr. Slick
 
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"Dr. Slick" wrote:

Ohms are still always Ohms, regardless of what you are measuring.
And it's very interesting that the E and H fields have units of
Volts/meter and Ampere(turn)/meter, which when you divide one by the
other, you get basically Volts/ampere, just like you would in a
transmission line.


How do you know when the reduced units of one computation mean the
same thing as another?

An example:
The reduced units of modulus of elasticity (in/in/psi - psi) is
the same as the units for stress (psi) and yet modulus of elasticity
is clearly not stress. And in this case, the unreduced units are
much more descriptive than the reduced units. Reducing discards
information.


Not really. Look at this:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/permot3.html

If you notice, the strain is = delta L/ original L, so the strain
is dimensionless. So Young's modulus actually seems to represent the
N/m**2 (PSI) that is required to elongate something to twice it's
original length: delta L = original L, so that the denominator is 1.

interesting that you bring this up.



On the other hand, Torque (Newton*metres) when multiplied by
Radians (metre/metre) does give Energy (N*m*m/m - N*m), but only
after reduction. And for sure, Torque (N*m) is not the same as
Energy (N*m).



Hunh?? how did you get radians = m/m?

Look he

http://www.sinclair.net/~ddavis/170_ps10.html

I admit that this page reminded me that radians are
dimensionless.

So the torque times radians just gives you the work done, which
is in the same units as torque by itself. it's a bit confusing, but
Rotational units are used differently from linear ones (you have the
moment arm), so linear units are force is Newtons or lbs, and work is
in Newton*meters or ft*lbs.

I'm not totally sure, but the reason for this discrepancy seems
to be related to the fact that upon each rotation, you end up at the
same point, so in a certain sense, no work is done. But the crux is
that angles are dimensionless:

http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/54181.html

But in either case, rotational or cartesian, the Newton is still
a Newton, and so are the meters.




So sometimes it is appropriate to say the reduced results are the
same and some times it is not. Is there a way to know when it is
legal?

What rules have you used to conclude that reducing V/m/A/m to V/A
is appropriate?

...Keith



Basic algebra and cancellation of units. When have you found it
not to be appropriate? I'll admit that it can be a bit confusing
going from cartesian to rotational, and you have to understand the
context, but the UNITS ARE ALWAYS THE SAME. Isn't this the crux of
science and math? That we have certain standards of measurement, so
when we say it's a meter, it's a meter? God, i hope so.


Slick