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Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

petitions.whitehouse.gov

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Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#501

Post by hosh »

jacquesm wrote: post #259
tokenadult wrote: post #198

From the petitions.whitehouse.gov petition kindly submitted for comment here: "The United States is one of the few countries left in the world who still have not converted to using the Metric System as a standardized system of measurement. Instead of going along with what the rest of the world uses, we stubbornly still adhere to using the imprecise Imperial Unit - despite the fact that practically every other country…

That's a typical case of theory and practice. Yes, in theory the US is a country that supports metric. In practice, go and ask anybody in the country outside of the military for the following: - An M10 bolt - a 16mm wrench to drive it with - a 3 meter long 50 mm od pvc drainpipe - a tape-measure that measures only in metric - a highway sign that is posted in km And so on. See how many people can point you to any of t…

This is true. However, this is not insurmountable:

http://xkcd.com/526/

The key is, I think, start with the measurements you use in your daily life and start estimating in those terms. Use it in the office. It might be accelerated if there's a metrics app for the Google Glasses, automatically converting signs into metric. You start saying, "dude, that bouncer must be two meters tall!" and getting everyone around you to convert.

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#502

Post by Shorel »

tokenadult wrote: post #198

From the petitions.whitehouse.gov petition kindly submitted for comment here: "The United States is one of the few countries left in the world who still have not converted to using the Metric System as a standardized system of measurement. Instead of going along with what the rest of the world uses, we stubbornly still adhere to using the imprecise Imperial Unit - despite the fact that practically every other country…

> A Facebook friend with a scientific education recently told me about the saying "A pint's a pound, the whole world round." If the United States begins using metric-standard units more for selling foods and the like, then perhaps a half-kilogram (500g) package will be considered to be one new "pound," just as a half-liter (500ml) package will be considered to be one new "pint."

That's what happens in Colombia. We ask for a pound of meat, and we actually expect 500 grams.

Also we measure fuel in gallons, while the milk is in liters.

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#503

Post by derleth »

maqr wrote: post #401
derleth wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Montana is famous for its high speed limits on motorways This hasn't been true for years. Our current speed limits are in line with the rest of the country.

Ok, I'll bite, so what are you famous for now?

I doubt a resident can accurately answer this question.

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#504

Post by SideburnsOfDoom »

jamesjguthrie wrote: post #376
SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We ask for a footlong, a quarter pounder etc when we go out for fast food. So? There's nothing wrong with asking for something called a "footlong" and getting a 30cm meal. Nothing wrong with asking for a "pint" and getting 500ml of beverage.

I don't mean that we only ask for these things, we are served these things. We are served 6 inch or foot-long subs; pints - not half litres - of beer; etc. It's not just a simple lingual thing. We actually buy products that are divided into round imperial measurements, i.e. 1 foot, 1/4 of a pound, 2 pints, etc.

> We actually buy products that are divided into round imperial measurements ... Imperial units are absolute muck and I cannot wait for a entirely metric world.

Ah sorry, I misread your grandparent post, I thought you wanted to keep the Imperial names & sizes.

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#505

Post by mpyne »

ComputerGuru wrote: post #487
mpyne wrote: post #471

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fractional measures are useful when you often have to sub-divide a thing, but you are right in that they make the problem of comparing two things more difficult. But with that in mind the answer to your question is that when the scales were first devised in the first place that it was apparently more important to be able to evenly split things up easily without grade-school arithmetic than it was to be able to compar…

But why not just use /64 or /32 for everything? 3/32" vs 4/32" is win-win compared to 3/32" vs 1/8" or .09375" vs .125"

The stupid answer is that it's easier to add 1/2 and 1/4 than it is 32/64 and 16/64. Keep in mind this is the kind of measurement system that might evolve in the time before most people had a formal education.

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#506

Post by mpyne »

mikeash wrote: post #478
mpyne wrote: post #470

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But there are constant, ongoing costs to having mixed units, potentially including lives lost (and certainly very expensive space probes lost). In engineering there is never an excuse for not knowing the units of measure of a value in use. That probe would have been brought down just as easily by mistaking a 'kg' parameter as 'g' as it would have been by mistaking a 'kg' parameter as 'lbs'. What's worse, in enginee…

Excuses don't matter. The fact is that these mixups happen. And the probe would not have been brought down just as easily by mistaking 'kg' for 'g', because that would result in a number that was off by a factor of a thousand, and the result would be unlikely to make any sense. The meters/feet mixup that actually did happen could only happen because being off by a factor of 3.3 resulted in a number that still made ba…

> There are documented instances of metric/imperial mixups crashing space probes and forcing airliners to land after running out of fuel in midair and such things.

As I recall, the Gimli glider came about because they were trying to switch to include metric units and had to change their procedure to do it, but didn't make the change in all places where it was necessary. This resulted in pilots using an Imperial conversion factor to try to calculate a metric fuel loadout, with disastrous results. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider#Refueling

... this isn't exactly selling me on the idea that switching up all the units used in the U.S. is actually a good idea.

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#507

Post by cglace »

YZF wrote: post #491
cglace wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you saying that Montana is not known for much else other than having high speed limits? There are two incredibly beautiful national parks there, Glacier and Yellowstone. Yellowstone is one of the best known parks in America.

Yellowstone for the most part is in Wyoming.

You are right. It has been years since I have been there. However, for some reason I remember spending a good amount of time in the Montana portion. Don't know why.

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#509

Post by 001sky »

jacquesm wrote: post #447
DannyBee wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh, if something is milled to a metric size and tolerances in metric, it is in fact, a metric size, regardless if it happens to match some imperial sizes. There is no requirement that metric sizes be only integer whole numbers, and if you are going to claim that, for example, all lumber purchases outside of the US are done to exact integer metric sizes, that's just false. It may be the construction industry purchases…

Lumber isn't 'weird' the sizes make perfect sense, if you're constructing something beyond a picknick table you'll see the logic immediately. Nobody said anything about integer whole numbers. But I can't seem to get around your mental block that the system you are working in is Imperial, not metric so I'll leave it at this.

Lumber isn't 'weird' the sizes make perfect sense...

If you go to a home depot and ask for something 2x4x8ft, it will not be 2.00 by 4.00 inches or 8ft long, when measured with a caliper. Its weird in the sense that the stated sizes are only approximate, quite unlike hardware or fasteners, wrenches etc.

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#510

Post by beefman »

Measuring metric adoption by counting countries with official adoption is common. Less common is measuring by aggregate PPP-GDP and actual adoption by the public. To approximate actual adoption, I give the US, UK, Canada and Jamaica completely to traditional units and the rest of the world completely to metric.* Using 2011 data from the IMF, I then conclude that traditional units command 31% of usage worldwide.

* These are the countries in red on this table http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication#Chronology_and_stat... But a review of the UK article shows that the language "partially complete" is pretty fanciful in describing the current situation in the UK. The story in China is more complex...

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