Old-fashioned Units!!!!

OK, ok, ok - I apologise for using old units for my weight in the last post! A few of my friends from overseas have asked "What are stones? And what does the symbol "lb" mean?" Well, it's simple but really of course, as a physicist, I should have used SI units........................ however, rather than mend my ways, I'll explain more about the old units.

One "pound" (symbol "lb" not to be confused with "LB" for Langmuir-Blodgett) is 453.6 g, or 1 kilogram is 2.2 lb. It gets more complicated since pounds can be subdivided into ounces (symbol "oz", not to be confused with a well-known wizard) - 1 kilogram is also 2 pounds and 3.3 ounces (3 lb 3.3 oz) since there are 16 ounces in one pound. Who said the British weren't logical?

Now to stones.................. one stone is 14 pounds, or about 6.35 kg. so 16 stones and 1 pound is approximately 102 kg and 13 stones (my target weight) is approximately 82.6 kg! So, my challenge is to lose a huge 20 kg! That's 40 half kilo packs of lard!! Nice!

Hope this has enlightened you SI-ers!