h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was just wondering where the words dollar and pound (as in the two types of currency) come from. I have always been a bit confused by the very different terms and $$$ values associated with each.

I think Pound comes from when Britain linked its currency to the value of gold. In the notes all say that if you bring them to the bank of England they will "pay the bearer on demand the sum of .... pounds" This used to be in terms of gold so a five pound note would get you 5lb of gold.

It was Sterling Silver old chap

Precious metal, close enough

That would explain the "Sterling" bit though

thanks.

Actually, 'pound' is the weight of gold that a 'pound' could buy. The £ sign is derived from the letter L, initial letter of the latin 'librae', which I believe were Roman coins worth a pound of gold.

Here in Britain the pound used to be 240 pence. The reason for this was that that was the number of penny coins that could be minted from a 1 pound lump of gold. Don't know where the old shilling came from, though.

I´ve been wondering about one thing for some time now, maybe someone here can help me.
My question is: Is the windshield of a car driving in constant rain hit by more raindrops per time as if it were standing? Does it depend on the angle of the windshield? Does it depend on the angle of the falling raindrops? My physics teacher couldn´t tell me, maybe you can!

I think it depends on the direction of the wind.

If the car is driving into the wind it will hit more rain drops, if its driving in the same direction as the wind it will hit less.

Ive heard or read that dollar accrually comes from the word Daler, or Dalar, wich used to be the currency in Scandinavia. They probably brought the word with them when they emmigrated to America.

I read that Dollar came from Thallar (or something) and it's Dutch. This sounds reasonable when you consider that New York was originally New Amsterdam, so there must have been a reasonable Dutch presence in America in its very early days. By very early I mean before the War of Independence (or Britains 5th Civil War, as I like to think of it!).

Gindulf, I'm not sure why your question appeared in the middle of a discussion about currencies, but I would like to answer it.

Let's start with a stationary car:
The number of raindrops hitting the windshield increases, as the rain gets more perpendicular to the glass. In other words, if the wind is blowing the rain so that it falls at an angle that is at 90 degrees to the windshield, you have the maximum number of drops hitting, and if it is blown parallel to the glass, hardly any actually hit (although you will obviously see smears, because the wind is constantly changing, etc. etc.) The function desribing how the rate of raindrops varies according to the angle will probably be something based on a cosine curve.

Now for a moving car:
This isn't any different from the stationary example; however, you have to subtract the car's velocity from that of the wind to get the effective wind velocity, then use the same calculation as above. Note that there is also a 'shadow' effect; if the car is driving slowly enough and the wind is blowing strongly from behind, then the effective strike angle becomes negative, and the rain all falls on the roof, so you won't get any on the windshield.

To answer the 'is it better to be moving' question, you would need information about the downward velocity of the rain and the direction and speed of the wind. I remember seeing a similar problem answered once about whether one should walk or run through a rain shower to get the least wet. I seem to remember that the answer was 'It depends', so this is actually quite a complex little problem!

I think I might go and work out all the formulae now. Would you like me to post them if I finish?

In an attempt to provide a definitive answer to the "is it better to keep moving" question - a British TV show recently got one load of children to run around in the rain while another let stood still. After they's all been getting damp for a few minutes they were weighed and the figures compared with their dry weight before the experiment began. This little exercise demonstrated that the running children weighed less than the standing-still lot and the show therefore pronounced that it it better to keep moving.
Personally I doubt the validity of the thing but it made entertaining TV for the viewer sitting safely inside a dry house

Perhaps the heat the children generated when running allowed them to absorb less water into their clothing.

Without thinking too hard about it, I know that when driving in the rain I can hear the drops hitting the car at a much faster rate than when sitting still and I suppose that makes sense.

Wait a minute... this doesnt having anything to do with the origination of the definition of the dollar or pound...

-SequelGuy

Dollar comes from the Sumerian currency, the Talla (I think that's how it's spelt. The choice of this word for a modern currency has something to do with Masonic mysticism. The Sumerians were supposed to know all about human contact with Aliens. They called Earth the 7th planet, and it is if you approach the sun from beyond Pluto. The US one dollar bill is covered in Masonic symbolism - the all seeing eye etc. Washington DC and Canberra Australia are both layed out in a Masonic style. Most of the men involved with forming the US constitution, it's currency etc were all Masons. I'm not sure where pound comes from for currency. Perhaps the weight of something in pounds had some value?

The Talla may have been a form of Sumerian currency, but I doubt if that is why the word Dollar was chosen as the name for the U.S. unit of currency. As for all the Masonic stuff, people have been linking the Masons with everything under the sun, including the Jack the Ripper murders. I disapprove on principle of anything even remotely like a 'secret society', or anything that treats its members differently from the rest of the population, especially if half the population (the female half in this case) is expressly excluded from membership. However, I find it hard to believe that the Masons have been involved in as much stuff as people claim they have. And what does a 'Masonic style' of city layout look like? I have heard of other claims that cities or monuments are laid out in a particular configuration. On closer examination, most claims fall apart.

If you read the rest of the thread, pound is a coin that used to be worth a pound of gold. In fact, originally it probably was a pound of gold. And I think it more likely that 'Dollar' came from a European unit of currency than from the ancient Sumerians.

Praps the kids lost weight running about

or got very sweaty?

Defiantely silver, most people although having said that if it were gold that may explain why the average cave man couldn't afford a packet of fags.

scratch !#most people#!

Hi Cheerful Dragon,

I just read your reply and I thought you might want to know (a rather
minor - people might think - detail). Freemasonry is divided into two big branches: the English and the French "style" (I am calling it like that since I don't know the exact word). It is only the English Masons that don't accept women in their ranks! All the Masonic Houses that follow the French "dogma" do take women in their ranks.

Regards,
Ariadni