Dec 29 2008
Watch Those Units!
Units of measure are all around us - we use them every day and we may not even realize it, for example, if you drive, the unit of measure for your speed is mile or kilometer per hour. Watch out for those units of measure and how you use them or interesting things could happen. Imagine cooking brownies and using a tablespoon of salt instead of a teaspoon of salt - the brownies might come out looking ok, however, they will have an unusual taste.
10 years ago this month, the Mars Polar Orbiter was launched, upon reaching Mars; it was destroyed as it unexpectedly plunged into the Martian atmosphere and crashed. What was the cause of this accident? Incorrect units of measure - the contractor supplied a table of navigation data in units of “pounds per second” to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory when they were expecting “grams per second”.
Hi Mike - I just stopped by to read more of your blog. You have some great subjects and entries! They are very informative! Keep up the good work.