Units of Weight, Mass, and Force

Abstract

THE necessity for names for the units, of velocity and acceleration is very clearly illustrated by a criticism of my “Dynamics for Beginners,” which appears in the Practical Engineer of June 3. After objecting to the introduction of new names, and explaining that a velo stands for a foot per second, the writer proceeds:—“The second new name is “elo” and is meant for an acceleration of one foot per second, or unit acceleration; so that if a body is moving with a velocity which is being accelerated at the rate of one foot per second, it is said in the new language to possess one celo. In other words, a celo means an acceleration of one foot per second, or of one vela.” The italics are mine. I cannot resist quoting also the following sentence, which occurs a little lower down in the same criticism:—“We think there is something ridiculous about the adoption of these names, which, while possessing the very questionable advantage of shortening the language of the subject by some two or three words, serve to muddle the mind of the student, and to obscure the sense by wrapping it up in meaningless words.”