Units 11

in which the symbol MW is based on the historical use of molecular weight to describe the molecular mass. The
molecular mass of carbon-12 can also be expressed in terms of grams leading to

12 g
MWC 12 = (2.4)
mol

While Eq. 2.3 represents the molecular mass in the preferred SI system of units, the form given by Eq. 2.4 is extremely
common, and we have used this form to list atomic masses and molecular masses in Tables A1 and A2 of Appendix A.
Energy can be described in units of kg m2/s2; however, the thermodynamic temperature represents an extremely conve-
nient unit for the description of energy and many engineering calculations would be quite cumbersome without it. The same
comment applies to the luminous intensity which is an observable that can be assigned a numerical value in terms of the
four fundamental standards of length, mass, time, and electric charge. One of the attractive features of the SI system is that
alternate units are created as multiples and submultiples of powers of 10, and these are indicated by prefixes such as giga
for 10 9 , centi for 10 2 , nano for 10 −9, etc. Some of these alternate units are listed in Table 2.2 for the meter. NIST (National
Institute of Standards and Technology) provides a more extensive list of prefixes. In other systems of units, multiples of
10 are not necessarily used in the creation of alternate units, and this leads to complications which in turn leads to errors.

2.1.2 Systems of Units
If we focus our attention on the fundamental standards and ignore the electric charge, we can think of the SI system
as dealing with length, mass, and time in terms of meters, kilograms, and seconds. At one time, this was known as the
MKS-system to distinguish it from the CGS-system in which the fundamental units were expressed as centimeters,
grams and seconds. Another well-known system of units is referred to as the British (or English) system in which the
fundamental units are expressed in terms of feet, pounds-mass, and seconds. Even though there was general agree-
ment in 1960 that the SI system was preferred, and is now required in most scientific and technological applications,
one must be prepared to work with the CGS and the British system, in addition to other systems of units that are
associated with specific technologies.

2.2  DERIVED UNITS

In addition to using some alternative units for length, time, mass, and electric charge, we make use of many derived units
in the SI system and a few are listed in Table 2.3. Some derived units are sufficiently notorious so that they are named
after famous scientists and represented by specific symbols. For example, the unit of kinematic viscosity is the stokes
(St), named after the British mathematician Sir George G. Stokes‡, while the equally important molecular and thermal
diffusivities are known only by their generic names and represented by a variety of symbols. The key point to remember
concerning units is that the basic units represented in Table 2.1 are sufficient to describe all physical phenomena, while
the alternate units illustrated Table 2.2 and the derived units listed in Table 2.3 are used as a matter of convenience.
While the existence of derived units is simply a matter of convenience, this convenience can lead to confusion. As
an example, we consider the case of Newton’s second law which can be stated as

 
 force acting   time rate of  change 
  =  of  linear momentum  (2.5)
 on a body   of  the body 
 

TABLE 2.2
Alternate Units of Length
1 kilometer (km) = 103 meter (m)
1 decimeter (dm) = 10−1 m
1 centimeter (cm) = 10−2 m
1 millimeter (mm) = 10−3 m
1 micrometer (µm) = 10−6 m
1 nanometer (nm) = 10−9 m

‡ Rouse, H. and Ince, S. 1957, History of Hydraulics, Dover Publications, Inc., New York.