Appendix A - About Names, Numbers and Units

Sometimes words can mean different things or, worse, change meaning depending on where you live or what you do. Take the word ‘gas.’  In North America, it’s the diminutive for gasoline. But in elementary school we were taught that a gas is the third state of matter in the sequence: solid, liquid, gas. So gasoline is not a gas at all. It’s a liquid. Moreover, natural gas is also called ‘gas,’ which compounds confusion. In Britain a less confusing word, ‘petrol,’ describes what North Americans call gasoline. In Germany it’s called benzin.

Throughout this book I’ve tried to use words that won’t mislead.

 

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