Wh is directly equivalent to joules. It makes perfect sense as a unit of energy.

1 Wh = 3600 joules

That's the point though. Just refer to it in joules.

It's kind of like radians vs. degrees. Degrees seem ridiculous if you're doing trig, but working with irrational fractions of pi is ridiculous if you're trying to measure with a protractor. If you need to convert to radians to do some trig (and let's be honest you usually don't) you are going to end up converting something like degrees that are marked on the protractor anyway.

> Degrees seem ridiculous if you're doing trig

Degrees are ridiculous if you're doing calculus. They don't really pose any problems if you're doing trig.

> but working with irrational fractions of pi is ridiculous if you're trying to measure with a protractor.

Sure, that's true, but that's only because irrational numbers are by definition infinitely precise. It's no more difficult to use a protractor labeled in increments of 0.02 radians than one labeled in increments of one degree.

360 is evenly divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, and 20.

0.02 radians would absolutely be a ridiculous unit of measurement if you were a carpenter or draftsman in the age before computing.

> 360 is evenly divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, and 20.

But if you're trying to measure an angle, this is totally irrelevant. The angle is whatever it is.

30/60 degrees are round numbers which are very useful for a lot of applications. Your .02 radian protractor doesn't have a mark on it for either.

Realistically, it probably would; those marks would just not fit into the progression of .02 radian marks. Ever seen a meter stick that also measured inches?

Are you trying to measure an angle, draw a particular angle, or confirm that an angle meets a particular standard?

That's a general statement I'd agree with, but it's a losing battle. So many consumer products are rated by power that "I turn this 2000 W thing on for 1 hour, thus it consumes 2000 Wh of energy" is kind of convenient, if weird.

My real surprise and problem comes with Wh/x, where x is any unit of time. Why not cancel h/x for any dimensionless factor? This is what the grandparent is referring to.

I know. And while I would prefer J as the unit for energy, I accept the convenience of Wh. The problem comes with Wh/x, where x is any unit of time. Why not cancel the h/x for a dimensionaless factor in this case?

Most utilities charge by the kWh, so this measure makes it easy to compute costs.

Not if you work in the power industry.

Watt hours are the most widely used unit for energy in science and engineering ...

I know (in the case of engineering anyway; I would hold joules are more used in science). I accept the convenience of Wh. The problem comes with Wh/x, where x is any unit of time. Why not cancel the h/x for a dimensionaless factor in this case?