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Metric System
Posted by urikalish • 7/30/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: metric, system
It is amazing that a nation not using the metric system ever got to the moon.
User Comments
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- Why do you say that?
Is it because the metric system is more accurate?-
Probably because the metric system is easily used in any number of countries because it is standardized - whereas our system is loosely based on strange calculations, is barely standardized and used primarliy in our country and no where else
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Anok almost! The United States of America, Liberia and Burma/Myanmar are apparently the only countries in the universe that haven't gone metric.
Australia started the changeover to metric on the 14th February 1966. Every radio, tv, newspaper, classroom and manual had saturation coverage for a few years. By 1967 I had learned money (dollars), temperatures (centigrade) and weights (ks) easily. The only struggle was with small lengths - I don't remember what a mile is, but I know exactly what 5'2" is.
By the way, our children and grandchildren don't even know we once had Imperial measurements here in Australia.
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I am kind of surprised that America doesn't use it since it has become a global standard. -
The metric system is much better.
How many inches in a mile?-
A lot
That is the problem with our system here. you've got centimeters, inches, feet, yards, miles - and the larger the measurement the less accurate it really is. Why do we have a yard? it makes no sense -
I left England before they instituted the metric system for measurement, but I LOVED it when they introduced decimalization. I hated the imperial system.
I do miss the threepenny bit though (eek showing me age). -
Why not just use the metric system?
How many millimeters in a centimeter? 10
How many centimeter in a decimeter? 10
How many decimeter in a meter? 10
How many millimeters in a meter? 1,000
How many meters in a kilometer? 1,000
How many millimeters in a kilometer? 1,000,000
Milli... = / 1,000
Kilo... = * 1,000
Isn't that easy? -
I dunno why the US doesn't change - we are stubborn, I guess I remember being in school (grade school) and we were supposed to learn the metric system - but none of the kids and few of the teachers wanted anything to do with it.
*shrug* -
The Mars Climate Orbiter...
"The metric/imperial mix up which destroyed the craft was caused by a software error back on Earth. The thrusters on the spacecraft which were intended to control its rate of rotation, were controlled by a computer which underestimated the effect of the thrusters by a factor of 4.45. This is the ratio between a pound force - the standard unit of force in the imperial system - and a newton, the standard unit in the metric system. The software was working in pounds force, while the spacecraft expected figures in newtons; 1 pound force equals approximately 4.45 newtons."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter -
South Africa is metric.
I am not.
I have a stainless steel conversion chart with a massive magnet attaching it to the fridge door. Five years here and I still have to refer to it when using non-American recipes or turning on my oven or checking the internal temperature of my roast.
I never learned it, didn't want to, don't use it unless I have to.
I mean, if metric is so great, why don't we tell time by metrics?
Why does a circle still have 360 degrees?
Gimme a break...a mile is 5280 ft x 12 inches...all those zeroes in metrics dance with each other and I have to stop and make them stand still by counting them to know if we are talking tens or hundreds of thousands! No less effort than multiplying 5280 x 12 to find out how many inches in a mile...assuming I would ever to know that. -
DUH .. 1 mile = 63,360 inches
(just go to your google toolbar and type:
convert 1 mile to inches)
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South African cook books are even worse. They use measurements such as 'cup' and 'tablespoon'. My dad had to cook for us once when I was a kid. Since both metric tonne and 'tablespoon' are abbreviated as 't', we ate a lot of pancakes that weekend.
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I edited an international cookbook a few years ago. Two thirds of the recipes were originally given to me in centigrade, and the rest in either farenheit or Gas Mark (1-10). Even though a cookbook is a minor project, I didn't know if I was Arthur or Martha.
What about seriously important projects? What do American and Burmese pilots in planes do, when air traffic control gives them instructions in metric? Whip out a converter table and make their best guess? -
Metric conversion for imperialists: A quick guide.
40 degrees celsius = damn hot
400 kilometers = how far you can get on a tank of gas in a volkswagen beetle
4,000 litres = amount of water in your average garden fish pond
Now if someone could tell me how many pounds are in a british stone, I'd be grateful. I can't fathom (six feet) that measurement and I'm about 20 leagues (no idea) over my head with all of this.-
jajajajajaja that's pretty much how I understand Fahrenheits;
below 50= very cold
between 70 and 80= nice!
in between 80 and 90= tolerable
above 90= very hot -
There are 14 pounds in a stone (what an absurd number to base a measurement system on). Anyhow...
The average woman probably weights 8 and a half stone
The average man probably weights 10 stone. -
At least we're smart enough not to use the "stone" measurement of weight. I never did get the "I weigh as much as eight rocks" school of measurement. What if the stones got chipped? -
What if the stones are small? -
I don't see how the size of your stones relates to the metric system. [insert snarky smiley here]
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Touche... Touche...
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I like our feet and pounds though. It makes more sense to me. In golf they use yards, and I don't really know how far it is still. -
@anok Imperial units are based on empirical equations. Which means that those weird equations are like that because they are based on experiments and not logic. Metric is good because it's divided equally into 1000's and therefore can also be easily divided into lots of 5, 2 and 1 (e.g. 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 etc..)
once upon a time it would have been useful to use those units as it was relevant to those people in terms of weights and lengths they could understand-
I am scared of the metric system...in fact I wouldn't go near it with a 3.048m pole!!!
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Actually, anyone working in a technical field in the U.S., like engineering and science uses the metric system. The old English Imperial system of measurement is mostly used for commercial purposes.
When I was a child, the metric system was a standard part of our education, and it was generally expected that the U.S. would transition to the metric system, but when Reagan became president, it empowered a very vocal minority that sees any adoption of international standards as an infringement of our sovereignty.-
Even back i the dark ages in the furthest reaches of New Hampshire, I too learned the metric system in school. Science in school was done with that system. (And we grew up watching Apollo on TV. ) So is engineering, as far as I can tell. And I only recall learning the range of one weapon in the army in yards, not meters in the 80s, though maybe my memory is faulty. That weapon? The ancient 50 cal. machine gun.
Our local measuring system is for everyday life, and it works well enough, though it frustrates foreigners.
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By the way, do you know when the metric system was first introduced? And have you any idea how long it took to standardize weights and measures in most countries? It's a pretty modern thing to actually use the same measures within one country, let alone across continents.
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Canada went metric wayyyyy back in the '70s. I was at that age that had to be re-taught EVERYTHING. It was quite the pain.
I'm okay with Celius Temps and Kilometers (kill-ah-meh-ters, not kee-lo-me-ters), but would rather stick with Lbs for weight over Kgs.
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