I was visiting my mother last weekend and picked up a science book which I read as a teenager, but which originally belonged to my grandfather. It’s a brilliant discussion of materials science by Sir William Bragg, based on some Royal Institution lectures he did. I was thinking of passing it on to the next generation, but then I read the following sentence:<\/p>\n
“The weight of air in the Royal Institution lecture theatre is about 15 cwt; the weight of argon is about 18 lbs”<\/p>\n
I realised that this might be a bit of a puzzle for a current youngster, but I was intrigued to find out how far such dreadful ignorance extends. I therefore conducted a moderately scientific test, by asking a group of friends, relatives and colleagues the following: “Who can, without cheating (e.g. Google, scientific calculators etc.), tell me what percentage argon is by weight on this basis?” The victims were all bright boys and girls, but represented a wide spread of ages (19-65) and educational and ethnic backgrounds.<\/p>\n
I knew the answer, but I had to think about it.<\/p>\n
What surprised me was that I only got one other correct answer. From Ken, who is “about 60”. None of my other respondents had a clue, even those who are slightly older than myself.<\/p>\n
So I appear to be pretty much the last of a breed who can work with a system of units based on 12, 14 and 16 as well as 10. Does this bode ill for our mental agility?<\/p>\n
If you’re interested in the answer, I’ll post it as a comment, so you can have a go without cheating!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Or, “What’s a cwt, Uncle Andrew?” I was visiting my mother last weekend and picked up a science book which I read as a teenager, but which originally belonged to my grandfather. It’s a brilliant discussion of materials science by … Continue reading