Group items tagged

Regulatory Changes by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

FERC Orders 888 and 889

On April 24, 1996, FERC issued Orders 888 and 889, which encourage wholesale competition.  The primary objective of these orders is the elimination of monopoly power over the transmission of electricity.  To achieve this objective, FERC requires all public utilities that own, control, or operate facilities used for transmitting electric energy in interstate commerce to: file open access nondiscriminatory transmission tariffs containing minimum terms and conditions, take transmission service (including ancillary services) for their own new wholesale sales and purchases of electricity under open access tariffs, develop and maintain a same-time information system that will give existing and potential  users the same access to transmission information that the public utility enjoys, and separate the transmission from generating and marketing functions and communications.

Planck Units

Planck units are largely based upon three fundamental units, h, G, and c.

The gravitational constant is given the symbol "G".   It is a measured value used in the force equation for gravity (see below). F = Gm1m2 / r2 The m units are masses of two bodies which are separated by a distance r.   By rearranging the equation, we have G (see below). G = Fr2 / m1m2 The gravitational force, F, was measured between two masses to arrive at G.   At various times, the laboratory equipment and methods were improved to arrive at more accurate values for G.   The physics texts were not usually updated for the new values because (1) the changes were not great enough to justify the added expense to the texts, and (2) the changes were happening frequently enough to make each text obsolete before it arrived in the hands of students.   Consequently, there are numerous variations of G to be found, but the differences between them are slight. There are many systems of weights and measures used in physics.   Fundamental constants such as G often have two values according to the measuring system used.   When two such units are mixed to arrive at subsidiary units such as the planck length, the result is a completely erroneous value along with units of measure which do not apply.   Consequently, it is important to convert the various units of the fundamental constants used to the same system of units.   In may instances of late, this has not been done. Finally, there is human error involved in copying from an old text to create a new next.   This means that it is wise to check various texts to see if they all agree (they usually don't), and decide what is correct and what is not correct.   For G, the following was discovered.