Units
http://fy.chalmers.se/~f3amj/Pics/measuring.gif
Physics involves units. Petroleum engineering also involves units. Unfortunately, while physics uses the International System of Units, otherwise known as SI or metric units, working in an oil field exposes you to a much wider (wilder?) variety of units. One common calculation an engineer might have to solve is to determine the k-value, or permeability, of a rock. In the petroleum engineering profession, permeability is measured by the darcy. Determining permeability is important because a rock layer that has a high permeability is one which is good to produce oil from; the oil can easily flow through the rock towards the oil well. Permeability can be described by the following formula:
William Czyzewski
In physics, something like this would be relatively easy to solve due to physicists across the globe using the same units. There would be little, if any, converting between units needed. However, a poor petroleum engineer might have to deal with any of the following columns when receiving information for calculating permeability:
William
Czyzewski As you can see,
even though units of measurement are things both
physicists and engineers use, it's pretty clear that
physicists have the upper hand when it comes to
avoiding needless computations.