Time is in seconds, length in meters, temperature in kelvin, etc. A unit of energy like a joule is then defined using these base units, so 1 joule is 1⋅kg⋅m^2⋅s^-2.
> The kilogram is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI)
Arguably, an ugly wart, but one we are stuck with for historical reasons. The base units of the original metric system (metre and gram) were poorly proportioned for practical use, resulting in the two main scientific/engineering systems of metric units both choosing to prefix one base unit - the centimetre-gram-second (cgs) system chose to prefix the metre, the metre-kilogram-second (mks) system chose to prefix the gram, and eventually mks won out over cgs and evolved into SI.
Whatever warts SI has, they are nothing compared to the chaos of the Imperial/customary system
thamer|1 year ago
Time is in seconds, length in meters, temperature in kelvin, etc. A unit of energy like a joule is then defined using these base units, so 1 joule is 1⋅kg⋅m^2⋅s^-2.
skissane|1 year ago
Arguably, an ugly wart, but one we are stuck with for historical reasons. The base units of the original metric system (metre and gram) were poorly proportioned for practical use, resulting in the two main scientific/engineering systems of metric units both choosing to prefix one base unit - the centimetre-gram-second (cgs) system chose to prefix the metre, the metre-kilogram-second (mks) system chose to prefix the gram, and eventually mks won out over cgs and evolved into SI.
Whatever warts SI has, they are nothing compared to the chaos of the Imperial/customary system
l33tman|1 year ago