one-half

French translation: 50%

07:55 Apr 24, 2008

English to French translations [Non-PRO]
Tech/Engineering - Chemistry; Chem Sci/Eng / Conductivity of hydraulic fluids

English term or phrase: one-half

The conductivity of distillation-purified tributyl phosphate, a typical phosphate ester, was about one-half that of the formulated fluids. This suggests that the phosphate ester contributes a significant portion of the conductivity in the formulated fluids.

Je ne suis pas sûr de la valeur numérique à donner à "one-half" ici.
Comment comprenez-vous la chose ?
Merci

Rodolphe Thimonier KudoZ activity Questions: 51 (none open) (5 closed without grading) Answers: 160 France
Local time: 13:24

French translation:50%

Explanation:
Don't quite see where the problem lies, personally, but that's certainly what it means

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Note added at 42 mins (2008-04-24 08:37:23 GMT)
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conductivity is certainl a quantity with units and not just a relative value (though of course here it is being used in a general way).

If this ester has a conductivity that is around 50% of that of the formulated fluids, it does indeed suggest it would make a major contribution to the overall conductivity (depending, of course, on the proportion of it in the fluid!) — if it had a much lower conductivity (let's say 1%), then clearly it would play a much less important part in the overall conductivity. It's a little hard for me to comment further without knowing more about these various fluids etc.

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Note added at 1 hr (2008-04-24 09:25:57 GMT) Post-grading
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Ah, now I understand! ;-)

Selected response from:

Tony M
France
Local time: 13:24

Grading comment

Merci. C'est de ma faute, je lisais "conductivité" et je comprenais "conductibilité".
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +2

50%

Tony M

4 +1

La moitié

erickl

Answers

5 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

La moitié

Explanation:
I would simply go 'la moitié', which is as unprecise as the English version

erickl
New Zealand
Local time: 23:24
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

French,

English
PRO pts in category: 8

3 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

50%

Tony M
France
Local time: 13:24
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 26

Grading comment

Merci. C'est de ma faute, je lisais "conductivité" et je comprenais "conductibilité".

Notes to answerer

Asker: The problem: if this ester has a conductivity twice weaker than the fluids, how can it be a major contributor to the conductivity of the fluids ? I thought conductivity was a relative value, not a quantity.

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