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[-] Astrealix@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Cuz the gram came before the SI system and the kilogram is a much more useable unit. The original m-g-s are based on physical things, like m being a subdivision of the length from the North Pole to the Equator going through Paris, and s being related to the time of a pendulum with certain length swinging or smth

A gram is the weight of 1 mL of water, roughly.

[-] tunetardis@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 year ago

I remember in some old astronomy textbooks they used units based on CGS (cm-g-s) as opposed to MKS (m-kg-s). It was pretty weird, as they had terms to go with that system like dynes instead of newtons for force. But at least it wasn't imperial.

this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2023
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