Furlongs per Fortnight - Unit Conversion by LuskT

Champion(s):

ChernicoffS
Even the president of the United States sometimes must have to stand naked. —Bob Dylan


Runner(s)-Up:

TaylorMA


Quiz Description

Questions in this quiz will require you to recognize that we measure things with way too many different units, and many of them require you to make a conversion from one unit to another. And now for a readin' of the rules, here's Bruce:

1. Pencil and paper allowed for computation, but no calculators.

2. If there is a * at the end of the question, an exact answer is required (and it will be an integer). Otherwise, answers within 3 percent of the given answer will be counted as correct.

3. For computation questions, simple numbers as answers will suffice (i.e., you don't have to put the converted units).

So, yeah...have fun.

Full Results:

Rank Player Total %ile 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Money Value (% Incorrect): 39 17 84 67 34 34 67 50 50 34 73 50
1 ChernicoffS 475 97 15
15
15
84
15
67
15
34
15
15
67
15
00
00
15
73
15
2 TaylorMA 392 91 15
39
00
00
15
67
15
15
34
15
67
15
15
15
00
15
50
3 ShapiroA 367 86 15
39
15
00
15
67
15
34
15
34
00
00
00
15
15
73
15
4 WeikleB 351 80 00
15
17
00
15
15
15
15
15
50
15
50
15
34
15
15
50
5 FryedBetaKappa 329 75 15
39
15
00
15
67
15
15
34
00
00
00
15
34
00
15
50
6 GrahamJ 321 69 15
15
17
15
84
00
15
00
00
00
15
50
15
50
15
00
15
7 Vicun-YAH 318 63 15
15
15
84
00
00
15
34
00
00
15
15
50
15
15
15
15
8 DixonD 305 58 15
15
17
00
00
15
34
15
15
15
50
15
50
15
34
00
00
9 CraneN 258 52 00
00
00
00
00
15
15
34
00
15
50
15
15
34
00
15
50
10 jefe 238 47 15
15
00
00
00
15
34
15
34
15
15
15
50
00
00
15
00
11 GambinoG 231 41 15
39
15
17
00
00
00
00
00
00
15
50
15
50
15
00
00
12 MercureT 193 36 00
00
15
00
00
00
15
34
15
34
00
00
15
50
15
00
00
13 MatthewsP 150 30 15
39
15
17
00
00
00
00
15
00
00
00
00
15
34
00
00
14 KaufmanK 144 25 00
00
15
00
15
00
00
15
34
00
00
00
00
00
00
15
50
15 BoyerA 135 19 15
39
15
17
00
00
00
00
15
34
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
16 BlomE 81 13 00
15
17
00
00
15
34
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
17 creedofhubris 49 8 00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
15
34
00
00
00
18 Gmoney 32 2 00
00
15
17
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00

Questions:

Since we started with furlongs per fortnight in the quiz title - a common example to show that proper units matter in calculations - calculate a speed of 1 mph in equivalent furlongs per fortnight.*

Click to Reveal Answer
2,688

A gentleman fond of archaic units goes to his butcher and orders 7 stones of ground mutton. At $3.00 per pound (all taxes included), what was his total cost?*

Click to Reveal Answer
$294

Assuming a typical 12-gauge shotgun slug weighs 1 ounce, how many slugs are in a slug of slugs?

Click to Reveal Answer
515 (500 to 530 accepted)

One neat fact (among many) I learned from xkcd's "What If?" is that gas mileage ultimately has units of inverse area (i.e., 1/length^2). This means a fuel economy of 20 miles per gallon is equivalent to how many inverse square feet (1/ft^2)?

Click to Reveal Answer
789,888 (766,191 to 813,585 acceptable) (edited at 6:29 am, September 2, 2015 (EDT))

Which derived SI unit named for a scientist (as so many of them are) is equivalent to 1 kg*m^2/s^3?

Click to Reveal Answer
Watt

How many gradians are in π/4 radians?* (Fun hint: one of the original definitions of a gradian was a distance of 100 km at the equator)

Click to Reveal Answer
50

Your bicycle tires require an inflation pressure of 40 psig, but the pressure gauge on your pump reads in bars. What should your gauge read to hit 40 psig?

Click to Reveal Answer
2.758 (2.675 to 2.841 accepted)

In the cgs system of units, 1 Newton of force would be expressed as how many dynes?*

Click to Reveal Answer
100,000

No conversion required here...the answer is dimensionless. It's calculated as a ratio of inertial forces to viscous forces and is used to predict patterns in fluid flow. What is it?

Click to Reveal Answer
Reynolds Number

The Gray, Sievert, and - I swear I am not making this up - the Banana Equivalent are all units used to measure what quantity?

Click to Reveal Answer
Ionizing Radiation Dose

Time to stock up on firewood! If someone has a pile of wood 16 feet wide, 20 feet long and 6 feet tall, how many cords does he have?*

Click to Reveal Answer
15

What unit of time has been given various definitions, including the time it takes light to travel 1 cm in a vacuum (~33.35 ps), or the period of an AC cycle (1/50 or 1/60 second)? To the smith's knowledge, it has not been used to measure quantities of cornbread mix.

Click to Reveal Answer
Jiffy