History and Measurement of the Base and Derived Units

Steven A. Treese

Springer, May 17, 2018 - Technology & Engineering - 1121 pages

This book discusses how and why historical measurement units developed, and reviews useful methods for making conversions as well as situations in which dimensional analysis can be used.
It starts from the history of length measurement, which is one of the oldest measures used by humans. It highlights the importance of area measurement, briefly discussing the methods for determining areas mathematically and by measurement. The book continues on to detail the development of measures for volume, mass, weight, time, temperature, angle, electrical units, amounts of substances, and light intensity. The seven SI/metric base units are highlighted, as well as a number of other units that have historically been used as base units.

Providing a comprehensive reference for interconversion among the commonly measured quantities in the different measurement systems with engineering accuracy, it also examines the relationships among base units in fields such as mechanical/thermal, electromagnetic and physical flow rates and fluxes using diagrams.

Contents

• 1 Measurement Perspectives: 1
• 2 Interconversion of Units: 61
• 3 Metric and US CustomaryEnglish Systems: 71
• 4 Historical Length or Distance: 101
• 5 Historical Area: 300
• 6 Historical Volume or Capacity: 391
• 7 Historical Weight and Mass: 563
• 8 Historical Time: 772
• 9 Historical Temperature: 837
• 10 Historical Angular Measurement: 865
• 11 Historical Electrical Charge and Current: 885
• 12 Historical Amounts of Substances: 908
• 13 Historical Luminous Intensity: 927
• 14 From Base Units to Derived Units: 946
• 15 Common Modern Conversions: 1019

About the author

Steven Treese retired from Phillips 66 as the Hydroprocessing Team Lead in 2013; but continues to take on the occasional consulting assignment in process engineering and refining. He started his professional career with Union Oil Company of California in 1973 as a Research Engineer with a BS in Chemical Engineering from Washington State University. He followed company heritages through Unocal, Tosco, Phillips, ConocoPhillips, and Phillips 66. Steve’s range of experience includes hydroprocessing, hydrogen, operations, process safety, catalyst development, utilities, sulfur recovery, geothermal, shale oil, nitrogen fertilizers, process design, procurement, and licensing.

Steve is a licensed Professional Engineer with a handful of publications. He was on the 1994 NPRA Question and Answer Panel and was lead editor for the “Handbook of Petroleum Processing, 2nd Edition” (Springer, 2015). He has been an inventor on patents in diverse areas, including vessel internals, enhanced oil recovery, and hydroprocessing. He is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Steve’s hobbies include woodworking, boating, fermentation, robotics, and photography. He is a mentor for FIRST Robotics Team 3049 in Bremerton, WA, USA

Bibliographic information

• Title: History and Measurement of the Base and Derived Units
• Author: Steven A. Treese
• Publisher: Springer, 2018
• ISBN: 3319775774, 9783319775777
• Length: 1121 pages
• Subjects: Mathematics / History & Philosophy; Science / History; Science / Physics / General; Technology & Engineering / General; Technology & Engineering / Measurement