- #1
j04015
- 8
- 1
- Homework Statement
- I don't get how the units in v = ω r match up. v / r= ω and let's say v is in m/s and r is in meters. This would make ω in 1/s; where does the rad/s come from?
- Relevant Equations
- v = ω r
m/s / m = 1/s
But note that ##\left(\frac{m}{m}\right) =1## in all circumstances. So the use of the radian is just a convention.jack action said:$$\frac{\frac{m}{s}}{m} = \frac{\left(\frac{m}{m}\right)}{s}=\frac{rad}{s}$$
Here ##\left(\frac{m}{m}\right) \equiv rad## only because the measured lengths represent a radius and an arc length of the same path. It cannot apply to every length divided by another length.
I cannot think how else to use it.vanhees71 said:One should never use rad as a unit.
Then what is a degree (°)? I see no difficulty in having a unit that is dimensionless,vanhees71 said:There is no unit in a dimensionless number.
Units and dimensions are two different concepts. It is a good exercise in clarity always to attach explicit units to a number. Saying "I bought 6" is less informative than "I bought 6 pounds" which less informative than "I bought 6 pounds of potatoes." Here the unit that ought to be specified is "pounds of potatoes." Even "pure" numbers have units, e.g. 1 gross = 12 dozen = 144 ones, "one" being the ultimate generic unit.vanhees71 said:I'd never write ##\phi=42 \text{rad}## but rather ##\phi=42##, because rad is just a factor of 1.
No they don't. However road signs don't display units for anything in SI countries or anywhere else I've been. See speed limit example below. With road signs brevity of recognition takes precedence over clarity of units.gmax137 said:Do the road signs in SI countries say "...slope EDIT 0.05 radians ahead ..."
vanhees71 said:There is no unit in a dimensionless number.
vanhees71 said:There's a lot of confusion, using the symbol rad, as this discussion shows.
vanhees71 said:A degree is also an oddity ;-)).
Sorry, 12 is even.Mister T said:##\dots~##but instead told them to go to the store and get me 12. Now that would be odd.
I'm confused, is that an angle or a solid angle? If only there was a way to clearly identify the difference:vanhees71 said:##\phi=42##
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steradian said:The steradian is a dimensionless unit, the quotient of the area subtended and the square of its distance from the centre. Both the numerator and denominator of this ratio have dimension length squared (i.e. L²/L² = 1, dimensionless). It is useful, however, to distinguish between dimensionless quantities of a different kind, such as the radian (a ratio of quantities of dimension length), so the symbol "sr" is used to indicate a solid angle.
I think @jack action's point is that the use of rad or rad2 tells you which. However, the discussion @kuruman linked in post #6 suggests plane angles and solid angles should have the same angular dimension. I suspect this is related to the way the exponent of ##\pi## in areas and volumes of spheres steps up every second dimension: 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, …##.vanhees71 said:We are discussing angles, not solid angles!
Again, I don't know what you mean. Are you saying that one degree is simply 1?vanhees71 said:Of course all these "units" are simply 1!
Mister T said:Again, I don't know what you mean. Are you saying that one degree is simply 1?
vanhees71 said:So a degree is also just a number, ##1^{\circ}=\frac{\pi}{180}##.
vanhees71 said:Of course all these "units" [ ##\text{sr}## (steradians), ##\text{rad}^2## ] are simply 1!