Zero Gravity: The Lighter Side of Science
Little Known Conversion Factors, Explained
1: the ratio of an igloo's circumference to its diameter = Eskimo Pi
2: 2,000 lbs. of chinese soup = won ton
3: 1 millionth of a mouthwash = 1 microscope
4: the time between slipping on a peel and smacking the pavement = 1 bananosecond
5: the weight an evangelist carries with God = 1 billigram
6: the time it takes to sail 220 yards, at 1 nautical mile per hour = knotferlong
7: 365.25 days of drinking low calorie beer = 1 lite year
8: 16.5 feet in the Twilight Zone = 1 Rod Serling
9: half a large intestine = 1 semicolon
10: 1,000,000 aches = 1 megahurtz
11: basic unit of laryngitis = 1 hoarsepower
12: shortest distance between two jokes = a straight line
13: 453.6 graham crackers = 1 pound cake
14: 1 million microphones = 1 megaphone
15: 1 million bicycles = 1 megacycle
16: 365.25 days = 1 unicycle
17: 2,000 mockingbirds = two kilomockingbirds
18: 10 cards = 1 decacard
19: 52 cards = 1 deckacard
20: 1 kilogram of falling figs = 1 fig Newton
21: 1,000 grams of wet socks = 1 literhosen
22: 1 millionth of a fish = 1 microfiche
23: 1 trillion pins = 1 terrapin
24: 10 rations = 1 decaration
25: 100 rations = 1 C-ration
26: 2 monograms = 1 diagram
27: 8 nickels = 2 paradigms
28: 2.4 statute miles of intravenous surgical tubing at
Yale University Hospital = 1 I.V. league
©1995 - 2008, AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY
APS encourages the redistribution of the materials included in this newspaper provided that attribution to the source is noted and the materials are not truncated or changed.
Associate Editor: Jennifer Ouellette
Staff Writer: Ernie Tretkoff
Special Publications Manager: Kerry G. Johnson
Design and Production: Amera Jones







