In search of a 360-fingered man
I’ve been researching energy consumption around our house a lot lately, as you will probably note in the next few blog posts that I will make. Last night, Katie and I were talking about my latest measurement – the total energy consumption of our internet hub and data storage. As it turns out, it consumes a solid 21W, or approximately 0.5KWh/day. I was doing the math on it, trying to figure out how much that would be in a year… 0.5KW/day, 365 days per year ($21/year, by the way) and as my mind wandered, I asked myself, why is a circle 360 degrees? Why not 100 like most other SI units? The thought had never really occurred to me, although I have been using it for nearly 30 years. An impressively quick internet search answered the question, at least to my satisfaction. There are approximately 360 days in a year, and the rotation of Earth and days of the year are just about as fundamental as the number of fingers on your hands. Perhaps less intuitive: 360 is very nicely divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 24, 30, 36, 40, 45, 60, 72, 90, 120, and 180.