America And The Metric System

[Ecthy]

While we're talking Pulp Fiction dialogues, why not switch over to Reservoir Dogs dialogues. They happen to be a little more explicit in choice of words.

[Sarxis]

I guess it really comes down to the US not really needing to change.

We use each system when most appropriate.

[TCO]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
From what I've seen there isn't that much of a problem. Things seem to have shaken themselves out. People are more adaptable than you give them credit for, but they won't change unless given a little push. My father's generation thinks in inches, mine thinks in cms. We didn't exactly shove it down everyvody's throats; we gave ourselves time to change. Seems to be the same course that you guys are supposed to be taking, but you haven't really started on it yet...

I can't really argue with "seems to".

I will tell you that I wish it were true. (Your side of the argument.) But based on the one study that I saw (a while ago admittedly), I'd want to see something a bit better than "seems to " logic. I need to see another study.

p.s. I bet if you go into construction or heavy industry, you will find people using English units. A little more engineering and less physics would expose you to this. Do some consulting or part-time work when you're at UT. I bet you see what I mean.

Heck even Axi uses English units for HVAC.

[MrWhereItsAt]

I have yet to read a single American Physics/Geophysics research paper from the last 30 years that has anything but metric units, degrees Kelvin/Celsius etc. Leading science has already passed on imperial - how long will it take every other sector?

[TCO]

Scientists are often marvelously clueless about how much engineering and commerce differ from academia.

"Experts often wrongly assume expertise outside their field. The more narrow the expertise, the more likely the offense." -Some famous person

[Saint Marcus]

how many inches in a yard? how many yards in a mile?

and is there anything smaller than an inch that people work with?

[Imran Siddiqui]

how many inches in a yard?

36

how many yards in a mile?

1760

Something smaller? Half-inch?

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Saint Marcus
and is there anything smaller than an inch that people work with?

Machinists use "thou"s; thousandths of an inch. Convenientish scale...

1mm = ~39.4 thous, IIRC.

[Saint Marcus]

Something smaller? Half-inch?

That's as pointless as the 30cm example you gave.

Anyway, let's recap.

1 km = 1,000 m = 10,000 dm = 100,000 cm
1 mile = 1,760 yards = 5,280 feet = 63,360 inches

well, I know what's easier to convert


In short: imperial system is difficult to convert (compared to the metric system) and doesn't have certain standard sizes to use that you do have in the metric system (like mm)

[Saint Marcus]

Machinists use "thou"s; thousandths of an inch. Convenientish scale...

sounds rather...metric

[TCO]

A "mil" is a thousandth of an inch. That is a unit used in most machine shops. All old lathes and stuff are english units. (And lathes last for 50 years...so most of the machines are old.) If you want to do metric work, you have to do conversions.

[KrazyHorse]

A "mil" is a thousandth of an inch. That is a unit used in most machine shops. All old lathes and stuff are english units. (And lathes last for 50 years...so most of the machines are old.) If you want to do metric work, you have to do conversions

They called them thous where I was.

And they had 2 metric lathes and 4 standard lathes...

[TCO]

oops x-posted with kitty.

[TCO]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse

A "mil" is a thousandth of an inch. That is a unit used in most machine shops. All old lathes and stuff are english units. (And lathes last for 50 years...so most of the machines are old.) If you want to do metric work, you have to do conversions

They called them thous where I was.

close enough. Your memory might be better. Never mind...both are in the dictionary.

And they had 2 metric lathes and 4 standard lathes...

Right. 4/6 > 50%, = most.

[KrazyHorse]

I was demonstrating gradual phasing out. You have to take first steps first, though, like actually introducing the general pop. to metric system. IMHO, that's the easiest and quickest part; it's the initial stimulus that will drive the rest of the transformation, and unless you do it you'll be stuck with 19th century units forever...