- FFF System
The Furlong/Firkin/Fortnight (FFF) system is a set of units that uses impractical and outdated measurements. It is a humorous system of units and is not used in practice. These units, notably the microfortnight, are mainly used jokingly in computer science.
Besides having the meaning of "any obscure unit", furlongs per fortnight have also served frequently in the classroom as an example on how to reduce a unit's fraction. ["College Physics" by Alan Giambattista, Betty McCarthy Richardson, and Robert C. Richardson, McGraw Hill, 2002. Page 20.]
Base units and definitions
Notable multiples and derived units
Microfortnight
One microfortnight is equal to approximately 1.2096
second s. This has become a joke in computer science because in the VMSoperating system , the TIMEPROMPTWAIT variable, the time the system will wait for an operator to set the correct date and time at boot if it realizes that the current value is bogus, is set in microfortnights. This is because the computer uses a loop instead of the internal clock which has not been activated yet to run the timer. [cite web| url=http://catb.org/jargon/html/M/microfortnight.html| title=microfortnight| accessdate=2007-07-06]Millifortnights (about 20 minutes) and nanofortnights (1.2096 milliseconds) have also been used occasionally in
computer science , usually in an attempt to be deliberately over-complex and obscure. The aim is generally to slow users down, allowing them to set parameters only after some thought.Furlong per fortnight
One furlong per fortnight, a speed which would be barely noticeable to the naked eye, converts to:
*1.663 e|−4 metres per second
*roughly onecentimetre perminute (to within 1 part in 400). [Indeed, if the inch were defined as 2.5454... cm rather than 2.54 cm exactly, it would be 1 cm/min. cite web|url=http://www.uk-rec-sheds.org.uk/faq60.txt| format=TXT| title=FAQ for newsgroup UK.rec.sheds, version 2&3/7th| year=2000| accessdate=2006-03-10]
*5.987 e|−4 km/h
*6.548 e|−3inch es persecond
*roughly three eighths of an inch per minute
*3.720 e|−4 mph
*the speed of the tip of an hour hand on a clock, measuring 1.143 metres (3.751 ft) in length
*the speed of the tip of a minute hand on a clock, measuring 9.528 centimeters (3.751 inches) in length
*the speed of the tip of a second hand on a clock, measuring 1.588 mm (frac|16 of an inch) in lengthThus:
*a car travelling at 60 km/h (37 mph) is travelling at a speed of 1.00 e|5 furlongs per fortnight;
*an airplane cruising at 420 knots or 216.2 m/s (i.e. typical 0.8 Mach cruise) is travelling at 1.300 e|6 furlongs per fortnight;
*thespeed of light in vacuum is approximately 1.803e|12 furlongs per fortnight, or rather 1.803 terafurlongs per fortnight;
*fingernails grow approximately 3 mm per month [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nail_(anatomy)] , or 6.96 microfurlongs per fortnight (6.96e|-6 furlongs per fortnight);
*a garden snail has a top speed of about 78 furlongs per fortnight.Notes and references
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