America And The Metric System

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by Paul Hanson
At least America is consistent in it's use of the imperial system (the British name for the English system). Britain itself is a mish-mash of the imperial and metric systems: I'm 6 feet tall, weigh 12 stone and live 3 miles from the nearest town, but my driveway is about 12 metres long and it's 8 degrees celsius outside. And this is how the British measure all these things.

I can convert the two pretty easily from one form to the other.

Off the top of my head:

12 stone = 75kg
6 feet = 1.75m
3 miles = just under 5km

12 metres = 13 yards
8 celsius = 45 farenheit

[Ecthy]

Apocalypse is right though.

A double login of mine opened a thread liek this almost 2 years ago. He was French.

[MOBIUS]

Originally posted by Sagacious Dolphin
I can convert the two pretty easily from one form to the other.

Off the top of my head:

12 stone = 75kg
6 feet = 1.75m
3 miles = just under 5km

12 metres = 13 yards
8 celsius = 45 farenheit

Yeah, I think we in the UK can pretty much work in both measurements equally well, a real advantage at the moment IMO...

Imperial weights are an anachronism IMO, really a throwback to when the US were our colonial lackeys... In fact, apart from the fact that Imperial weights and measures are completely stupid, I would have thought that would have been reason enough for the US to take up metric.

It's just such a dumb system - I can't believe anyone made it up in the 1st place? And Fahrenheit as well, what the hell is that nonsense!!? At least with Celsius you know where you stand - 0 is freezing point and 100 is boiling. Simple!

I find it quite touching that the US would hold onto its colonial past like that - thanks guys, *sniff*

Also, as the years go by it will prove to be an achilles heel as the industrial powerhouses of Europe and China get their acts together and the US loses its economic ascendancy...

So please stay Imperial USA!

[Sarxis]

Originally posted by Goingonit
It's easier for America not to convert. When China surpasses America as the world's economic superpower, America will not have the power to stay imperial. The switch will just happen.

What insight! What power of the mind!

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by MOBIUS

And Fahrenheit as well, what the hell is that nonsense!!? At least with Celsius you know where you stand - 0 is freezing point and 100 is boiling. Simple!

IIRC its based on salt/sea water and body temperature - 0 being the freezing point of sea water, 100 is body temperature (when the scale was defined).

[RGBVideo]

IIRC, metric was officially introduced by Napolean. The U.S. was on the other side of an ocean, so our isolation kept us from seeing its advantages. It wasn't until after WWII that we began bumping up against it.

(threadjacking mode on)
No, it was 1793, when French had new goverment, new money, new calendar...
List goes on and on, but most of those got lost in the reign of Napoleon.

IIRC its based on salt/sea water and body temperature - 0 being the freezing point of sea water, 100 is body temperature (when the scale was defined).

92 is the temperature of the coldest stuff that Fahrenheit knew that time
... Fahrenheit firstly wanted to use just 12-degrees based system,
but then noticed that using them would be impossible with such large scales...
(NOT sure about those numbers thought.)

[Ignorance]

Fahrenheit wanted it to be easy to calibrate a thermometer anywhere.
So for 0 degrees he used the coldest he could possibly get in his lab, a salt/water/alcohol mix IIRC.
For 100 degrees, he chose another universal constant, human body temperature. (he must have had a slight fever on that day)

[moomin]

I say Yanks should keep their English system. Makes it so much easier it BS when turning in iffy numbers on performance reports:

- Ehh, are you sure 'about these numbers?
- Sure thing. They're metric, you know.
- Oh, I see. Great!

I've done this with numbers where the units in questions were money and percentages...

[Sava]

Engineers and scientists in America primarily use the metric system. The English system is just used for roads, basic home construction, and people's vital statistics. It would be too difficult for people to get used to the metric system. Why change something just to appease some canucks?

[Sava]

The metric system just uses the same increments for its divisions. It isn't any more accurate than any other system, just easier to convert between levels of division.

[Urban Ranger]

It's actually more accurate because the ways that SI units are defined now.

[Dauphin]

You mean by circular defintion.

[Urban Ranger]

Not.

[CyberGnu]

Ethelred, that a good enough reason :-)

Why don't you ICQ me her name, maybe I'll run into her. I'm at Caltech, postdocing in the Goddard group.

[Dauphin]

Fortunately farguarts stayed in England and few Americans call two weeks a forthnight

Never even heard of a farguat, but use "fortnight" as much as "week" or "month".