tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Nov 09 08:44:20 1994

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Re: the qelI'qam, was Re: Nonexistent words ...?

On Tue, 8 Nov 1994, ...Paul wrote:
> To debunk a theory, the meter is NOT based on a portion of the Earth, it is,
> in fact, the distance that some particle travels through a vacuum in such-and-
> such time.  Unfortunately, I don't know what the particle is, or how much
> time they allow it to travel.  BUT.  I do know that the distance is always
> the same, and thus is a very good way to accurately record a unit of distance.

Okay, as the resident KLI old-timer with the physics degrees, allow me to 
speak ex cathedra on this topic that is my vocation (physics), rather 
than my avocation (linguistics) and report an accurate history of the 
metre, as it relates to what Klingon scientists would likely consider in 
creating astronomical measures.....  and I hate to see incorrect lay 
descriptions of the background of the metre.

The metre WAS based on a portion of the Earth.  Emphasis on *was*.  When 
the French Academy of Sciences (I forget the proper French name) was devising
a rational system of measure, it was observed that the unit called "yard" 
in English, and similar European units, were approximately one 
ten-millionth (10^-7) of one quadrant of the Earth's circumference.  The 
French thus decided to and *did* define 1 metre to equal 10^-7 the 
distance of the meridian running from the North Pole to the Equator 
passing thru Paris.  (Conveniently note that you should easily be able to 
give the diametre of your home planet as about 4.00*10^7 (forty million) 
kilometres and be accurate to three decimal places.)

When it was observed that this measure had about 1% inaccuracy, a metal 
rod prototype was soon made to fix the distance to 0.1% precision.  This 
rod was maintained until 1960.  At that time, the metre was redefined as 
a particular number of wavelengths of krypton 86 primary spectral lines, 
an extremely precise value.

In 1983, improvements in time measurement made it such that by the 
uncertainty principle, it became feasible to use time to determine length 
in conjunction with the speed of light.  As of 1983, the speed of light 
is *defined* to be *exactly* 299 792 458.0000000000000000000... metres per 
second.  This means that today, one metre is the distance light travels 
in the fraction 1/299 792 458th of a second.

What this means for Klingons, is that *possibly* the space distance unit 
>qelI'qam< is based on the distance traveled by light in one of the given 
*time* units.  This might imply that >*qelI'< somehow expresses a sense 
of a "astronomical" foot....

<[email protected]>     >tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh'a'?<  "Pardon me, but if I must
David E G Sturm, Laboratory Manager                operate in a vacuum, can
Wake Forest University Department of Physics       I at least have a little
Box 7261 Reynolda Station, Winston-Salem NC 27109  ether to calm my nerves?"

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