The bel and Mr. Bell

Photo of Decible Meter courtesy of  FreeImagesLive.co.uk

The decibel (symbol dB, one-tenth of a bel) is a unit used in electrical engineering and acoustics to express relative loudness.  What I didn't know is that the bel was named after Alexander Graham Bell(1847-1922).

For more information, in addition to the links above see the website of The Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers at the Library of Congress.

Klicks

Photo courtesy military.com

The term "klick", used by the U.S. Military, is slang for kilometer, which is 1000 meters or 0.62 miles.  Its use by the American military is speculated to have begun in the 1950's or 1960's, possibly when American soldiers heard this or a similar term used by Germans, or Canadians, or Australians when referring to kilometers.

For more information on this and other U.S. military history, visit the Olive-Drab website for a listing of military history websites.