Category talk:Physical quantity

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Portal This category is within the scope of WikiProject Physics, which collaborates on articles related to physics.

Shouldn't this be at Category:Physical quantities (note plural)? --Diberri | Talk 05:56, Jul 14, 2004 (UTC)

At [1] we are encouraged to use the singular wherever possible. Ian Cairns 11:14, 14 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I interpreted that page to say that only broad topics should have singular category names (such as Category:Science or Category:Medicine). I see physical quantities as more of an enumeration of said quantities, so I would suppose that the category name should be plural. --Diberri | Talk 16:50, Jul 14, 2004 (UTC)

Quoting from the above link: Topical category names should be singular. Examples: "Biology", "Law". I presume that the implied choice is between categories named, eg, either Law or Laws. The recommendation (or instruction?), as I understand it, is to keep these singular. In the same way, we are faced with a category to be called Physical quantity or Physical quantities. I took the direction to imply usage of the name: Physical quantity. I would imagine a category devoted to the 'List of physical quantities' would be plural - however, there is already an article List of physical quantities 17:33, 14 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I think we're interpreting the policy in different ways. To me, Category:Law and Category:Laws are very different, not just because one is singular and the other is plural. The former (singular law) is intended to capture broad topics relating to law, like family law, Chinese law, and case law. The latter (plural laws) is meant for individual laws, like Occam's razor and Boyle's law. Thus Category:Physical quantities would be for individual physical quantities, like momentum, force, and torque. There is no such topic as "physical quantity", and so I would presume that such a category should not exist, and should be replaced with its plural name. --Diberri | Talk 18:25, Jul 14, 2004 (UTC)

Category:Physical quantities would be a list of specific times, torques, masses, and angles etc. Category:Physical quantity, however, is a list of ways of measuring physical quantities (not specific measurements), and is a list including time, torque, mass, and angle. So:

• This category is correct in the singular
• Since there are not usually articles for physical quantities, such a category would be little used (for instance Right angle redirects to angle).

Sorry to interrupt, but I'm afraid I don't understand your logic. You seem to be advocating the use of physical quantity as a list of items, but then conclude that the category should be named in the singular. However, the policy page states that Category names for lists of items should be plural. Thus, we should have Category:Physical quantities (i.e. plural) instead. --Diberri | Talk 21:48, Jul 14, 2004 (UTC)

What is the difference between Physical quantity and Measurement? Hyacinth 19:28, 14 Jul 2004 (UTC)

For me, Physical quantity (e.g. momentum, force, etc) is an aspect of the real or physical world around us that is capable of being measured. Measurement is one or more estimates of the value of a physical quantity in a particular context (cf: a 'result' in an experiment) - A measurement involves a value and a unit of measurement. Confusingly, Measurement is also the topic of taking measurements. Others may differ. Ian Cairns 19:50, 14 Jul 2004 (UTC)

The intro for this category states: "This category identifies Physical quantities which are necessary defined quantities, measured, manipulated, generally used by Physicists, Engineers, Chemists, etc." This indicates that the category is a list. The category does not contain articles which discuss the nature of the concept "physical quantity" and applications thereof in the same way that the category "law" contains articles which discuss the nature of the law and applications thereof; this category is instead analogous to a "category: laws" which would be a list of laws. Plus, wikipedia guidelines aside, "category: physical quantity" just sounds wrong. Earendilmm 21:58, 23 January 2007 (UTC)