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Comment on How do I verbally say 2.1 ng/kg

towerful@programming.dev ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

But it is a fixed ratio.
If it was in pounds, metric tons, moles or atomic mass units… It doesn’t change the ratio, the actual number.

Would it be acceptable to drop the unit all together?
“Lethal dose is 0.000000012 : 1 (substance : bodyweight)” (I made up the number).
I’m not sure if there is a better way of writing the ratio.

Could a fraction be more applicable?
“lethal dose is 1/600000 of bodyweight”

I’m sure it’s written as ng/kg to show the base units are the same, and the rest is just “fiddling” scientific notation

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Successful_Try543@feddit.de ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

moles

would not work, as they are no mass unit. 1 mol of Botox does not have the same weight as 1 mole of human (If that is defined at all, as organisms are no pure substances).

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- towerful@programming.dev ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Ah, yes good point
  
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Ephera@lemmy.ml ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Well, what I meant with that, is that it’s semantically important that it’s ng of the substance per kg bodyweight.

If it was ng of the substance per kg of the substance, then in proper mathematical physics, the unit would disappear completely.

So, for example:
42000000000 ng of the substance / kg of the substance

Is equivalent to:
42000000000 * 0.000000001 * kg of the substance / kg of the substance

Which means in the end, you just have: 42

As my physics teacher would often say: Is that 42 potatoes or sausages or what is it?
A number without a unit is just devoid of meaning…

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