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Importance of units

Hello all,
Welcome back...
In today's blog I am going to discuss about the importance of units.We are taught right from childhood that a physical quantity consists of two parts,one being magnitude and other being unit.To specify a physical unit we need both.For eg if someone asks you how much distance did you cover in today's morning walk?You might say 2km.Imagine if you would have said only 2,was it explainable.Answer is no.Similarly only saying km will also not be explainable.That is why both magnitude and units are important.Now this information you will get in primary textbooks also.But can you imagine its practical implications and its repercussions.Let me tell you a story.
But before that I would like to emphasize on the importance of SI units.SI units are international standard units designed to maintain uniformity.Imagine what will happen if we neglect its importance.Now here comes a real life story.

An aeroplane flew from its source towards it's destination,both being different countries miles apart.Since for long distances flights take break at intermediate countries,so this flight also did the same.At its hault in this country the crew member of the flight told the airport staff to refuel the tank at a specified magnitude.The airport staff did what they were told.Meanwhile the aeroplane crew members were having a chill.Then after sometime flight took off.After traveling certain distance the pilots got warning about shortage of fuel.Both the pilots were perplexed after getting this warning as it was quite shocking for them.They were thinking that during their hault the fuel tank was refilled.After sometime the fuel in the tank finished completely and the plane crashed leading to the death of all onboard.
Can you guess what happened?During their hault in that country the airport staff refuelled the tank in litres.But actually it had to be refuelled in gallons.Since the flight crew members forgot to specify unit the airport staff fuelled in their country's unit which was in litres but the country from which the flight took off had their units in gallon.Since litre is smaller unit,so the fuel finished quickly after certain time.This was a case of human blunder which cost lives of innocent people.
Now I hope you can understand the importance of units.
Thanks...

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