That's a big bomb

Ghoulish Delight · 03-30-2006, 03:55 PM

Oh, and I just noticed that this is a British report, which leaves some ambiguity.

Do they really mean tonne, or did they just "translate" the Amercain defense official's "ton" into "tonne"?

An American standard "ton", which can also be called a "short ton" is defined to be exactly 2,000lbs.

A "tonne" however, as commonly used in Britain, is a metric ton which is 1,000 kilograms, which is actually about 2,200lbs.

So, if they really mean "tonne", then it's actually 770 tons. However it's probably more likely that the reporter didn't know the disctinction, or decided to ignore the relatively insignificant 10% difference and just "translated" ton to tonne and left the 700 alone.

(incidentally, a 700 ton bomb would be a 635 tonne bomb)

03-30-2006, 03:55 PM	#17
Ghoulish Delight I Floop the Pig Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Alternative Swankstyle Posts: 19,348	Oh, and I just noticed that this is a British report, which leaves some ambiguity. Do they really mean tonne, or did they just "translate" the Amercain defense official's "ton" into "tonne"? An American standard "ton", which can also be called a "short ton" is defined to be exactly 2,000lbs. A "tonne" however, as commonly used in Britain, is a metric ton which is 1,000 kilograms, which is actually about 2,200lbs. So, if they really mean "tonne", then it's actually 770 tons. However it's probably more likely that the reporter didn't know the disctinction, or decided to ignore the relatively insignificant 10% difference and just "translated" ton to tonne and left the 700 alone. (incidentally, a 700 ton bomb would be a 635 tonne bomb) __________________ 'He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.' -TJ
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