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This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3
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Topic: How does power supply regulate amperage
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Stephen Furley
Film God
Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002
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posted 12-29-2009 11:32 AM
I would say current. Certain other comparable terms are used, mileage, footage and tonage for example, but you measure the flow of water, not the gallonage. You don't seem to hear this sort of usage with S.I. units either, but somebody will doubtless think of an example of it.
To 'measure the Amperage' seems to mean to measure some unspecified property of something in Amperes; since the only thing measured in Amperes is current, and the only unit current is normally measured in is the Ampere, the two terms mean pretty much the same thing in this case.
If you ask somebody to measure the footage of a reel of film you're asking them to measure some property of it, presumably the length since you wouldn't normally measure the width or thickness of it that way, in feet. If you asked them to measure the length of it then they might give you an answer in metres, for example, or if they felt like being awkward, in furlongs, chains, cubits, or whatever.
If you just asked somebody to measure the film you could mean to measure any property of it, the weight for example, or the optical density of the base. You might not normally do this, but if you'd just been discussing the density of various film bases with somebody, and you handed them some film and said 'measure this piece', they would probably interpret this as meaning measure the density, not the length.
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John Hawkinson
Film God
Posts: 2273
From: Cambridge, MA, USA
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 12-29-2009 11:39 AM
Sean, amperage is a word.
Many people like the word current better, but amperage is a fine choice. The OED (Oxford English Dictionary) says it has been around since 1894. It is in no way ambiguous. Often when people are particular about words, it is because the choice of word matters, and some people mean one thing with one word, and another thing with a different word, and mixing them up can cause confusion. That is in no way the case here.
It's a lot like "megahertz" versus "megacycles." Or maybe "pop," "soda," "tonic," to refer to carbonated beverages like Coca-Cola -- regional variation. (And, if you're in some strange parts of the US, they refer to all such drinks, including Pepsi, as "coke." I think this is in the South, but I'm not 100% sure.)
Please note, seperately, that ampacity is yet another word, which means something different entirely ("current-carrying capacity of a conductor"), and has no convenient short substitute.
Some people may prefer to use amperage because they like to honor André-Marie Ampère, who was active in the discovery of electromagnetism theory; that seems a fine reason. Probably most people do it because that's how they were taught, but that's absolutely OK as well.
Stephen: There are plenty of other units people use for current. You might argue it doesn't count since it's just a prefix change, but plenty of people measure current in milliamperes and nanoamperes, especially when dealing with circuit design. I think some physicists who are big on CGS units measure current in Fr/s (Franklin/second)... But yes, among normal people the ampere pretty much rules the day.
--jhawk
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Stephen Furley
Film God
Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002
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posted 12-29-2009 12:29 PM
Fair point Steve; you're right of course. I don't have any objection to Amperage, but I would tend to say current. I suppose the most complete way would be to specify both the property you want measured, and the unit that you want the answer in, 'measure the current in Amperes' or 'measure the Amperage of the current', but that sounds a bit odd, and in this case is redundant, since by specifying either the property or the unit the meaning is clear and unambiguous; you don't need both.
As to the SI units thing, we have the exception here of course; the Ampere is an SI unit. It does seem to be the exceptio though, I've never heard of litreage, metreage, kilogrammeage for example.
Voltage is rather like the 'Auditoria' vs 'Auditoriums', which comes up here from time. I would never say 'auditoriums'; to me it sounds awful, and it's a horrible word to say, whereas 'auditoria' sounds fine, and is easy to say. The problem of course is that somebody then brings up the example of 'forums', which sounds fine to me, while 'forua' just sounds wrong. I don't really know why.
How on Earth did I ever manage to learn to speak English, without even having the benefit if knowing another language first in which things could be explained to me? I find it almost impossibly difficult to learn another language now.
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