Overview
Explores the overall development and evolution of measurement along with new perspectives to place measurement and units in an historical context
Provides origins and applications of the U.S. customary and English disparate systems of measurement and discusses why it is so difficult to change measurement systems
Introduces dimensional analysis and the “Factor-Label” approach, which helps ensure the final result from complex conversions is dimensionally consistent and reduces the likelihood of error in conversions involving multiple units and factors
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Table of contents (15 chapters)
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Front Matter
Keywords
About this book
This book discusses how and why historical measurement units developed, and reviews useful methods for making conversions as well as situations in which dimensional analysis can be used.
It starts from the history of length measurement, which is one of the oldest measures used by humans. It highlights the importance of area measurement, briefly discussing the methods for determining areas mathematically and by measurement. The book continues on to detail the development of measures for volume, mass, weight, time, temperature, angle, electrical units, amounts of substances, and light intensity. The seven SI/metric base units are highlighted, as well as a number of other units that have historically been used as base units.
Providing a comprehensive reference for interconversion among the commonly measured quantities in the different measurement systems with engineering accuracy, it also examines the relationships among base units in fields such as mechanical/thermal, electromagnetic and physical flow rates and fluxes using diagrams.
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Steven Treese retired from Phillips 66 as the Hydroprocessing Team Lead in 2013; but continues to take on the occasional consulting assignment in process engineering and refining. He started his professional career with Union Oil Company of California in 1973 as a Research Engineer with a BS in Chemical Engineering from Washington State University. He followed company heritages through Unocal, Tosco, Phillips, ConocoPhillips, and Phillips 66. Steve’s range of experience includes hydroprocessing, hydrogen, operations, process safety, catalyst development, utilities, sulfur recovery, geothermal, shale oil, nitrogen fertilizers, process design, procurement, and licensing.
Steve is a licensed Professional Engineer with a handful of publications. He was on the 1994 NPRA Question and Answer Panel and was lead editor for the “Handbook of Petroleum Processing, 2nd Edition” (Springer, 2015). He has been an inventor on patents in diverse areas, including vessel internals, enhanced oil recovery, and hydroprocessing. He is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Steve’s hobbies include woodworking, boating, fermentation, robotics, and photography. He is a mentor for FIRST Robotics Team 3049 in Bremerton, WA, USA
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: History and Measurement of the Base and Derived Units
Authors: Steven A. Treese
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77577-7
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-77576-0Published: 31 May 2018
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-08485-1Published: 26 December 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-77577-7Published: 17 May 2018
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIII, 1121
Number of Illustrations: 9 b/w illustrations, 80 illustrations in colour
Topics: Measurement Science and Instrumentation, History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics, History of Science, History of Mathematical Sciences