Re: Changing Cycles 'till it Hertz

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Jim Lux by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net>

We're drifting off tesla topic here, but, here's something else.  A three
word term (cycles per second) tends to get shortened in use to a one word
term (cycles), and then becomes incorrect.  At least Hertz is a one word
term.  Granted, we don't have a single word unit for, say, meters per
second.

Let's see now, magnetic field is in Tesla, replacing (with a scale factor)
the former term, Gauss.  The Gauss had the advantage that 1 Gauss was close
to the strength of the Earth's field, and, it seems to me that the Tesla is
a bit large (a 1 Tesla field is pretty strong...), but at least it is
derived from fundamental units like meters, kilograms, and seconds..


----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Sunday, April 14, 2002 11:45 AM
Subject: Re: Changing Cycles 'till it Hertz


> Original poster: "Ed Phillips by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<evp-at-pacbell-dot-net>
>
> Tesla list wrote:
> >
> > Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
> <Parpp807-at-aol-dot-com>
> >
> > In a message dated 4/13/02 2:12:08 PM Central Daylight Time,
tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> > writes:
> >
> > > Problem here is that the term "cps" was also derived from the
> > >  name of Charles Proteus Steinmetz
> >
> > Hi Ed,
> >
> > That's the most intertesting thing I have read in this entire thread. Do
you
> > have any
> > evidence to support the C.P. Steinmetz / cps connection or is it just
> > coincidence?
>
> Not a coincidence, just a bad joke someone thought up after Hertz came
> into use in this country!  Sorry for the confusion.
>
> > We can imagine Steinmetz in one of his laugh-a-minute lectures coining
his
> > initials
> > as the unit of frequency. C.P. is not noted for his sense of humor.
> >
> > And what is the "also" that cps was derived from? The idea of cyc and
cps is
> > just so
> > naturally grasped when talking about cyclic events that I woulda guessed
the
> > terms
> > just entered the electrical lexicon in normal writing and speech. No
formal
> > adoption
> > as standardized units.
>
> Quite true. Came into use because of the convenience of the
> abbreviation (now days it might be called an acronym, of which there are
> far too many in this world of alphabet soup). Looking through 19th
> century literature I can find use of vibrations per second and cycles
> (presumably per second) but the first use of the expression cycles per
> second is in an article by Fessenden written in 1908.  Zenneck's
> "Wireless Telegraphy", or at least the english version published in
> 1915, uses cycles per second without abbreviation.  I can't find any
> usage of Hertz in pre-WW2 literature, but the selection here is limited
> to publications in the U.S. and England.
>
> > Happy day,
> > Ralph Zekelman
>
> Ed
>
>
>