A nice example of this idea is “dimensionally-equivalent units” where people use different words for fundamentally the same unit depending on what it’s measuring, purely for better communication. Examples include Becquerel vs Hz, Newton-meter (torque) vs Joule (energy), Volt-amperes (in AC electricity) vs Watt (power), ohm (resistance) vs “ohm per square” (sheet resistance), etc.
Litres per km vs. mm2 is another good one. The fuel consumption of your car can be visualised as a thread of petrol stretching ahead of it, burned exactly as fast as the car sweeps it up. The typical 10L/100km is 0.1 mm2, about the cross-section of a monofilament fishing line.
A nice example of this idea is “dimensionally-equivalent units” where people use different words for fundamentally the same unit depending on what it’s measuring, purely for better communication. Examples include Becquerel vs Hz, Newton-meter (torque) vs Joule (energy), Volt-amperes (in AC electricity) vs Watt (power), ohm (resistance) vs “ohm per square” (sheet resistance), etc.
Litres per km vs. mm2 is another good one. The fuel consumption of your car can be visualised as a thread of petrol stretching ahead of it, burned exactly as fast as the car sweeps it up. The typical 10L/100km is 0.1 mm2, about the cross-section of a monofilament fishing line.