The Metric System Discussion

[deluxestogie]

as for wishing that we had one 'universal' system of measures - for all intents and purposes we do!
Only three countries in the world don't subscribe to the Metric System - Burma, Liberia and USA.

The US has about 4,400,000 miles of paved roads. Changing just the road signs in the US to metric was estimated to cost nearly a half-billion dollars 25 years ago! That would roughly project to $829,000,000 today. Just for the road signs.

Australia has about 220,000 miles of paved roads.

As a trained scientist myself, I'm familiar with the advantages of various systems of unit measurement. The target audience, however, must also understand those units. How many ergs does it take to do a push-up?

The thing about standards is they are uniform--until the standard is changed--always for what is said to be a compelling reason. (Universal Serial Bus 1.0; USB 1.0 Revised; USB 2.0; USB 2.0 Revised; USB 3.0; USB 3.1; USB 3.2; USB 4--and today there are 12 different possible USB connectors)

In polling undertaken in the US in 2015, a mere 21% of likely US voters were in favor of the US formally adopting the metric system.

We still use the ancient Babylonian division of 60 for minutes per hour (oops, where did that 12 and that 24 come from?) and 60 seconds per minute. Seven days in a week? Whose scripture should define that? Indeed, calendars throughout the world are incompatible with one another in most aspects. And what's with the definition of a astronomical unit (AU) being based on the mean distance between our own star and our own planet?

And then there's that noisome issue about 360 degrees on the compass. I don't think the US will make a 0.5 rotation turn to the Napoleonic system of weights and measures any time soon.

Bob

 

[Orson Carte]

Of course there'd be a cost for changing from the Imperial system to Metric and I'd also agree that the US is highly unlikely to change, even though the latter is patently better.
The costing for just changing the road signs is no doubt correct but you wouldn't have to change them all at once - in fact it would be a great disadvantage to do it overnight because most every vehicle would still have an 'Imperial' speedometer/odometer.
I am old enough to easily recall when NZ made the change. It certainly wasn't done in one fell swoop. Our road signs pretty much only went metric as they came due for renewal.
Even for a small country the changeover took us about seven years (from 1969 to 1974). If you'd asked the person in the street at the time I'm pretty sure you'd have come up with a figure in favour of the change much different to your 21%. I can remember tradesmen (who worked with measurements, albeit in a fairly rudimentary way) every day avowing that 'they weren't going to have a bar the new system'. 'I'm going to buy-up a box of three-foot rules, enough to last them a lifetime'.
An, of course, it's not just road signs and carpenters' rules that have to be changed - it's every tool or thing that measures or calibrates. It's not simple but in our case I'm glad we did it.
The beauty of the system is the complete interrelationship of all the units. It allows one to do quite (seemingly) calculations by mental arithmetic - and unless you are some sort of savant you simply cannot do this in the Imperial system.

 

[burge]

Metric is easier however when fishing everything still is measured in pounds and inches

 

[skychaser]

I'd also agree that the US is highly unlikely to change, even though the latter is patently better.

They tried to force the metric system on us back in the 80's. It didn't work.
I won't give up my inches until they pry them from my cold dead feet!

 

[stic]

Of course there'd be a cost for changing from the Imperial system to Metric and I'd also agree that the US is highly unlikely to change, even though the latter is patently better.
The costing for just changing the road signs is no doubt correct but you wouldn't have to change them all at once - in fact it would be a great disadvantage to do it overnight because most every vehicle would still have an 'Imperial' speedometer/odometer.

I remember learning to drive in the old '71 HQ Kingswood...the speedo (in miles) had little stickers at 30 and 60 (saying 50KPH, and 100KPH) stuck on the plastic...

I moved from North Wales to NZ in 1979, so we went from imperial speed signs to metric speed signs; I think it took the 'old man' about a day to get used to...

 

[burge]

Wohoo 100

 

[skychaser]

Wohoo 100

lol You'll be there in no time at that speed! And what's the deal with the whole Fahrenheit, Celsius, Kelvin thing? I dunno if I need to wear my sandals or snow boots. sshheezzz....

This has gone way off topic, but its been fun

 

[Orson Carte]

lol You'll be there in no time at that speed! And what's the deal with the whole Fahrenheit, Celsius, Kelvin thing? I dunno if I need to wear my sandals or snow boots. sshheezzz....

This has gone way off topic, but its been fun

And I thought we were shot if we dared venture into any tangential wormhole.
Please don't start me on Fahrenheit or I might just ask you to explain rationally why 'American water' (at 100% purity, and at sea level) should vaporize at at the arbitrary base-ten figure of 212.
Meanwhile, the Kelvin and Celsius scales, on the other hand, have a perfect bland rationality about them

 

[Moth]

We still use the ancient Babylonian division of 60 for minutes per hour (oops, where did that 12 and that 24 come from?) and 60 seconds per minute. Seven days in a week? Whose scripture should define that? Indeed, calendars throughout the world are incompatible with one another in most aspects.

The French revolution:

In 1788, Claude Boniface Collignon proposed dividing the day into 10 hours or 1000 minutes, each new hour into 100 minutes, each new minute into 1000 seconds, and each new second into 1000 tierces (Latin for "third"). The distance the twilight zone travels in one such tierce at the equator, which would be one-billionth of the circumference of the earth, would be a new unit of length, provisionally called a half-handbreadth, equal to four modern centimetres. Further, the new tierce would be divided into 1000 quatierces, which he called "microscopic points of time". He also suggested a week of 10 days and dividing the year into 10 "solar months".[7]

Decimal time was officially introduced during the French Revolution. Jean-Charles de Borda made a proposal for decimal time on November 5, 1792. "

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_time

OK, it didn't take off.

 

[deluxestogie]

It's worth understanding why the savants of late 18th century France actually succeeded in establishing the metric system of weights and measures. At the time of the Revolution (1789), France was divided into 34 feudal provinces, each of which used its own arbitrary system of weights and measures, rules of taxation, and legal system. This was a colossal impediment to nationwide commerce.

With the opportunity to change all that, France was divided into département (comparable to an English county) with dimensions of roughly 2 days ride by horse, with its seat close to its center. This was a blow against the feudal aristocracy, moved the ultimate authority to Paris, and standardized weights and measures, rules of taxation, and the legal system.

So France 1) started with a serious problem in need of a solution (commerce was a mess), 2) experienced a political upheaval that presented an opportunity for change (a revolution), 3) was in the midst of a flowering of the "modern" scientific method (the French Academy), and ultimately 4) fell under the control of a dictator who was a friend of innovation and science (Napoleon).

With the sweeping conquests of the Napoleonic Empire, this mandatory, new system of weights and measures was spread into much of Europe.

Bob

 

[GreenDragon]

Remember this?

JPL: "Uh, Houston, we have a problem. The Mars Climate Orbiter just crashed into the planet."
NASA: "How did that happen????"
JPL: "Well, it seems we were using metric and Lockheed Martin was using Imperial units and didn't tell us and we slammed smack into the planet instead of going into orbit as planned."
NASA: "???? Who uses Imperial units in SCIENCE???"

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I just like bragging about how Canadians over the age of 30 are fluent in both systems.

 

[CobGuy]

As a medical scientist myself, I use both systems frequently.
Where it is TRULY important to be accurate, we have developed International Normalizing Ratios (INR) and International System of units (SI Units) so it doesn't matter where in the world you go.

~Darin

 

[Moth]

We (the UK) use a head mixture of metric and imperial measures.

Petrol is sold in litres, with fuel economy in miles/gallon. Distance is in miles / yards (motorway markers are placed every 100,200 and 300 yards before an exit).

Beer is sold in pints, wine and spirits in litres

People are measured in feet and inches, and weight expresses in Stone.

Reminds me of

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Stone is gibberish beyond the uk.

It's interesting how Canadians can use Fahrenheit from 60°to 100°, but use Celsius from -50° to 40°. And you have to be a coffee nerd to know what boiling point is in °F

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I could approximately figure out in my head how much steel objects weigh, but I first have to guess how big it is in inches, convert it to cm, then determine metric volume, come up with a mass based on ~~8ish g per cubic cm, then convert it back to pounds in order to really 'get it'.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Does an ounce of water weigh an ounce? If so, how much does a fluid ounce of steel weigh? 7.85 ounces? How many cubic inches is an ounce of water?

 

[deluxestogie]

It appears that you bicommensurate Canadians are confusing a fluid ounce with ounce Avoirdupois. If all these units are giving you a headache, then take 5 grains of aspirin.

Bob

 

[burge]

Then your deal with millilitres

 

[Alpine]

It appears that you bicommensurate Canadians are confusing a fluid ounce with ounce Avoirdupois. If all these units are giving you a headache, then take 5 grains of aspirin.

Bob

Or 100 scruples...

Pier