What is Digg?380 Comments
- EGamble, on 10/11/2007, -11/+305It would have saved them about $125 million for the mars orbiter that crashed in 1999 due to a conversion error...
- swordedge, on 10/11/2007, -42/+328we didn't adopt the metric system cause we are idiots
- lengau, on 10/11/2007, -20/+265How would adopting the metric system hurt the U.S.?
It would make equipment cheaper (companies don't have to make two pieces, one for the U.S. one for everywhere else), it would make it easier for people coming here or going somewhere else (no need to adjust to a new measuring system), and it would make it easier and cheaper for schools (they have to teach the metric system anyway, so why not only teach the metric system?).
I'm not advocating that all machinery be thrown out and replaced with metric machinery, but what about simply buying metric machinery when the imperial stuff fails?
And how about adopting the ISO standard of paper (ISO 216) ( http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/iso-paper.html )? - GutterMoo, on 10/11/2007, -16/+133I'm an engineering student and I can assure you the metric system is amazing. Not only does it make everything super easy, it makes more sense. inch, feet, yard, mile. blah! millimeter, centimeter, meter, kilometer. so much easier and you can tell exactly what im talking about and thats length.
- mongrel, on 10/11/2007, -37/+134WE DIDN'T CHANGE BECAUSE WE'RE AMERICANS - KISS OUR SALTY FAT ASSES!!!
- tzmguitarist, on 10/11/2007, -8/+96I'm not a machinist so forgive my ignorance; but every socket set I've ever owned has BOTH metric and "standard" sockets. Why make two parts? Why not just use metric all the time?
- miniboss, on 10/11/2007, -12/+76My car gets forty rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it.
- Philodox, on 10/15/2007, -12/+74The metric system is the tool of the devil! I get forty rods to the hogshead, and that's the way I likes it!
- luperry, on 10/11/2007, -4/+59"698 kilometers" makes perfect sense to me.
- Dumbledorito, on 10/11/2007, -6/+56We're already adopting metric units of measure for food and drink. Notice all those liters and milliliter measurements on, say, Jack Daniels whiskey? Whose market do you think that's for? It sure wasn't a bunch of Kentucky bargoers that descended on the distillery with shotguns demanding their fifths be measured metrically.
- davidrools, on 10/11/2007, -9/+59First of all, the title of this article is completely inaccurate. It doesn't give any reason why the US still uses standard units but just rants about why it sucks.
It's unlikely that the US will switch completely anytime soon. Almost all machine tools and tooling are in standard units these days. So basically anything that gets designed and manufactured or constructed is done in standard units. To completely change out all this equipment would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for every company wanting to switch to metric, with no incentive to do so. The equipment also lasts 20, 30, 40+ years so the older generation equipment will always be around and useful. Once you're in industry and working with standard units, it becomes just as easy as metric. - Wolfie351, on 10/11/2007, -11/+59We'll convert to the metric system when Britain and Japan drive on the correct side of the road. And, I can't wait to read the comments of people who take this joke seriously.
- CannedMango, on 10/11/2007, -4/+47What's with these half formed articles and blog comments making it onto Digg? Just as it seemed the writer was getting somewhere, the article ended.
- icantdrawanime, on 10/11/2007, -4/+46All I can say is I still don't know how big an acre is...
sure sounds big, but that could be imperial brainwashing - themoose, on 10/11/2007, -13/+51"Is "being like everyone else" really that good of a single reason to overhaul the whole infrastructure?"
No, imperial doesn't make any sense - whereas metric makes perfect sense. That's why everybody else changed. - orientis, on 10/11/2007, -18/+56To all the people saying 'Imperial is easier to measure in your head, for dividing fences into quarters and such': Leaving aside the great necessity to divide fences in twain, you do realise that Japanese people find speaking Japanese much easier than speaking English, right?
Likewise Pakistanis have a hard time 'converting' Urdu to English. Imperial isn't objectively easier to measure and process in your mind, it's just that that's what you've been brought up to use. I struggle to work out imperial lengths etc, but metric works fine for me. - BigMrWiggly, on 10/11/2007, -9/+46***** the metric and imperial system. We need to fully convert to the Furlong/Firkin/Fortnight system. It's pretty easy to use. 1 Furlong is 1/8 of a mile, 1 firkin is the weight of 9 gallons of water 90.20172lbs, and a fortnight is 18 days. i could weigh 4 firkins and feel good about it since it's such a small number. When i drive down the highway going 201,600 furlongs per fortnight I feel like I'm going really fast because that's a big number.
- Azio, on 10/11/2007, -5/+42"Well, except for the base measurements (meter, liter, gram), which are (of course, unavoidably) just as arbitrary as their imperial counterparts"
1g = 1mL = 1 cubic cm of water
1m = 1/10,000,000 the distance from the Equator to the North Pole
Yes, totally arbitrary. Just as arbitrary as, say, basing an entire system of measurement on the length of a dead English monarch's foot. - 0011digger, on 10/11/2007, -11/+47advantage really is to stay with the world.
- catalysis, on 10/11/2007, -54/+87Eh, this issue is totally overblown. All science and most engineering in the US is metric. All kids have to learn metric in school. We just measure distance and weight in imperial because that has traditionally been used and there are usually no conversion or complex math operations needed for these simple measurements.
Is "being like everyone else" really that good of a single reason to overhaul the whole infrastructure? - piper999, on 10/11/2007, -6/+35What, you mean like using the British Imperial system for your measurements?
- jimmiss, on 10/11/2007, -15/+44No, they are NOT arbitrary. You can only draw water up a pipe with a vacuum 9.8m, and 9.8m/s^2 is the force of gravity. One cubic centimeter is one mm squared is one milliliter, and it takes one joule to raise one milliliter one degree Celsius. This is why the metric system is better. Those are also EXACT figures, with doesn't limit you with conversion factors that have a predetermined amount of significant digits.
- viewdrix, on 10/11/2007, -11/+39Because of the same people Steve Guttenberg a star, and killed the electric car.
The Stonecutters. - laddr, on 10/11/2007, -3/+31@johnnick
Hmm you just associated a non-european unit of measure "acre" to something that is nearly as foreign to your average non-american, an "american football field".
lol - Godlesswanderer, on 10/11/2007, -3/+30Exactly.
Although officially we (UK) have changed, a lot of older people still use the imperial system and people around my age use a mix of both but not knowing all of both. For example, I measure myself in feet and inches but measure small distances in metres. I measure even smaller distances in centimetres and millimetres but will sometimes measure in inches. I measure large distances in miles but only vaguely know how many kilometres in a mile.
It's very confusing talking to Europeans as they use all metric and Americans as they use all imperial. - dreadstar, on 10/11/2007, -3/+29Who all thought we were going to get an answer to the question raised, only to be met by a 10th grade English essay on the advantages of using the metric system?
- johnnick, on 10/11/2007, -5/+28For a practical reference, an acre is a little smaller than a football field not including the end zones. (It's about 90% of that area.)
- Nudar, on 10/11/2007, -13/+35"@Terr01:
What do you mean "arbitrary"? AFAIK, the volumetric measurements are chosen as they are because 1 liter of water weighs exactly 1 kilogram and displaces exactly 1000 cubic centimeters of volume."
It's arbitrary because they arbitrarily decided that 1 liter of water weighs exactly 1 kilogram and displaces exactly 1000 cubic centimeters of volume. - init100, on 10/11/2007, -6/+27@anothergene
"Because we all know how hard it is to move a decimal point rather then dividing by 5120, or how ever many feet there are in a mile."
Exactly. Moving a decimal point is easy (each step is a power of 10), while in imperial measurements, you have
one foot is 12 inches
one yard is 3 feet
one furlong is 220 yards
one mile is 8 furlongs
one league is 3 miles
Trying to remember such illogical steps is just a big headache. - ToadLeg, on 10/11/2007, -9/+29If the US adopts the metric system, the communists win.
- SillyRabbits, on 10/11/2007, -2/+21@jimmiss
I guess you weren't joking...
"No, they are NOT arbitrary. You can only draw water up a pipe with a vacuum 9.8m, and 9.8m/s^2 is the force of gravity. One cubic centimeter is one mm squared is one milliliter, and it takes one joule to raise one milliliter one degree Celsius. This is why the metric system is better. Those are also EXACT figures, with doesn't limit you with conversion factors that have a predetermined amount of significant digits."
1 - 10.0m is the max height you can draw water
2 - 9.8 m/s^2 is the ACCELERATION due to gravity (not force)
3 - 1cc = 10mm cubed and is equation to 1mL
4 - 1 calorie is the amount of energy require to raise 1 gram of water 1 degree celsius - orientis, on 10/11/2007, -4/+23The UK will never switch to metric in the pubs, that's for sure. 'Pint' is just an arbitrary measure, successful because it's just the right amount of beer. Call it what you want, beer will always be served in those glasses.
I just wish that was standard here too. - jhnewt, on 10/11/2007, -3/+20Simple- there are 640 acres in a square mile.
- fugazi, on 10/11/2007, -1/+18They never answered the question for those wondering... It was just someone ranting.
- Andronicus1717, on 10/11/2007, -3/+20Hate to break it to you, but using the metric system doesn't eliminate significant digits.
- washingtonydc, on 10/11/2007, -4/+21whenever anyone tells me how great the US imperial system is, I demand, on the spot, they tell me how many pints are in a gallon or yards in a mile.
Of course nobody ever knows. - cliffzdude, on 10/11/2007, -10/+26The question is why *didn't* the US adopt the Metric System. Well, we tried but the expense killed us. I was a wee one when we were told the conversion to the metric system was on its way. It was expensive back in the day as the USA was still a manufacturing giant. Today? Not so much. As such the question for today is why don't we convert? I can't answer that one, as the cost to the USA over years to complete a full conversion wouldn't have to really hurt much at all. We don't manufacturer but a fraction of what we used to, and those products we do still make in the US are often in metric anyway.
- Revan01, on 10/11/2007, -17/+33We'll give up on imperial measurements when france and quebec give in to english
- Nik420, on 10/11/2007, -6/+21Well gas up here in Canada has been sold in Litres for years, and has never come close to the price you Americans pay for a gallon. It ranges between $0.90-$1.10/litre. I can't stand oil companies, and am always suspicious of them, but simply keeping the same price after conversion would never fly with any consumers or regulators.
- Junkyarddawg, on 10/11/2007, -3/+18Seriously, why DIDN'T the US adopt metric?
The US was heavily influenced by revolutionary France, and they invented the metric system to get away from conversion hell. So why did the US import its system of governance, and liberal ideals, from France, but not the system of metering? - Izacus, on 10/11/2007, -3/+18"For a practical reference, an acre is a little smaller than a football field not including the end zones. (It's about 90% of that area.)"
Good job. You just expressed an (almost) american-only unit with a size of a field of an american-only sport.
And we still have no friggin idea how much that is... (checked google... it's 4000 m^2 or 40 ares). - TenebrousX, on 10/11/2007, -1/+15An acre is the amount of land a man can plow in one day
- GTMopo3, on 10/11/2007, -5/+18I'm a Chemical Engineering student. We are taught how to use conversion factors so that we can work anywhere in the world with anyone with or without knowledge of other measurement systems. Operators and Maintenance crews typically know that water boils at 212 F so when they are watching a gauge they know what to look for if they want to keep it from boiling. A lot of plants were built 50- 60 years ago as well and you can just go changing the way you do things if there isn't a justification, since it would cost millions to convert to metric with out there ever being an increase in profit, this just wont happen.
- ostermei, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1210th grade? You're far more generous than I!
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -2/+14The UK officially changing to metric is open to debate. Horse racing is still done in furlongs (one eighth of a mile), garage forecourts gallons and litres, down the pub it's a pint, cricket pitch is 22 yards (a chain).
A mile is 1.61 kilometres. A pint is 568ml. A litre is 10ml x 10ml x 10ml. An ounce is 28.35g. It's not hard to bounce between the two systems.
The reason why metric is the SI unit, everything is divisible in units of ten, makes communication between scientists around the world a whole lot easier. - lunarworks, on 10/11/2007, -1/+13"The UK officially changing to metric is open to debate. Horse racing is still done in furlongs (one eighth of a mile), garage forecourts gallons and litres, down the pub it's a pint, cricket pitch is 22 yards (a chain)."
Colloquial terms will never change. Canada is metric, but I still measure my height and weight in feet and pounds. Everything else I measure in metric.
Ordering a pint is ordering a pint. It has nothing to do with anything official. - NikoKun, on 10/11/2007, -2/+13If you've ever traveled outside of this country... you'd know it's not that hard to get used to the metric system. =P
- jdhoover, on 10/11/2007, -3/+14Acre is easy. In real estate, its known as the 7-11 rule. 43,560 square feet. 4+3 = 7 and 5+6 = 11.
- rmxz, on 10/11/2007, -17/+27@EGamble: "If computers handle all the conversions anyways why do we care about 3 and 4 being difficult to divide? Also time is neither metric or imperial it is based on planetary bodies and such."
The imperial system's optimized to make easy the stuff we often to do in our heads --- divide a yard long section of fence into 3 pieces; etc.
The metric system's optimized to make conversions between extremely wide ranges (micrometers in a megameter) easy.
In most places where the metric system would have helped me (say, in 'no-calculator' exams), I'd use a computer in real life. In most cases where the imperial system is useful I appreciate being able to split things into thirds or quarters easily. - dw2005, on 10/11/2007, -4/+14"Why Didn't Americans Adopt the Metric System? - Why haven't they adopted it yet?"
Surprisingly, reading this article won't tell you. -
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