NationStates Jolt Archive

Although there are slight variations, most of the world now uses it*, so should the US adopt the metric system? I say yes. The metric system is easier to both learn and use, as it uses consistent base numbers that are simple to divide by, multiple by etc.

There are 10 millimetres in a centimetre.
There are 100 centimetres in a metre.
There are 1000 metres in a kilometre.

There are 12 inches in a foot.
There are three feet in a yard.
There are 5 280 yards in a mile.

It would also save time and money for a range of US companies who need to convert to metric measurements and then convert back when dealing overseas.

Obviously it would cost a lot and there would be resistance, but if the government implemented it then it would eventually become dominate. If it is all the classrooms teach then within a few generations it would be sufficiently popular to bring an end to the current system.

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:SI-metrication-world.png

Why does that map claim Britain is non-metric? I don't understand the Imperial system because I was never taught it.

Actually all the "imperial" units are defined in SI-units, meaning metres and kilogrammes and the rest, so the US is already metric. Most of them just remain ignorant of it.

i dont see any benefit to forcing people to use the metric system. does grammy REALLY need to start talking about how many kilos of sugar she had to buy for the christmas cookies? seems silly to me

everything that needs to be metric already IS metric. the rest doesnt matter.

i dont see any benefit to forcing people to use the metric system.

People can't be forced to use it lol, they can keep talkin' in yards if they want. It is just that it is a hell of a lot quicker to learn, teach and understand, and quicker and cheaper for American manufacturers, building companies etc who work overseas.

5280 yards in a mile just seems wrong. According to google, the correct number is 1760 yards in a mile. Can someone verify?

People can't be forced to use it lol, they can keep talkin' in yards if they want. It is just that it is a hell of a lot quicker to learn, teach and understand, and quicker and cheaper for American manufacturers, building companies etc who work overseas.

everyone who needs to use it already does.

Well, no.

5280 yards in a mile just seems wrong. According to google, the correct number is 1760 yards in a mile. Can someone verify?

lol yes

5280 feet in a mile

5280 FEET in a mile

1760 yards in a mile.

There ya go.

(go metric go)

If America switched everyone over, I could get rid of my google calculator bookmark.

i dont see any benefit to forcing people to use the metric system.

and i don't see any disadvantage. since its completely arbitrary what units one uses, we might as well go along with the global standard rather than acting like the backwards yokels we are. or i suppose we could start measuring things in cubits again...

Yes, but you have to ask who would be the first American state to post "120km" on their interstates, or "100km" on their highways in defiance of the hicks who will put the pedal on the floor when they first see three numbers instead of two.

Should we switch? Yes.

But we won't. Americans love tradition. And on top of that, we're stubborn.

I personally think it makes a lot more sense. Except for using Celsius to measure temperature. That's just foolish. My Canadian friend on a hot day: "Oh my god, it's like, 30 degrees out here." :confused:

Yes, but you have to ask who would be the first American state to post "120km" on their interstates, or "100km" on their highways in defiance of the hicks who will put the pedal on the floor when they first see three numbers instead of two.

any state interested in making even more money off of speeding tickets than they already do. hell, that actually seems like the sort of thing that could make the change happen...

Lets just measure everything in furlongs and be done with it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furlong

and i don't see any disadvantage. since its completely arbitrary what units one uses, we might as well go along with the global standard rather than acting like the backwards yokels we are. or i suppose we could start measuring things in cubits again...

there is no inherent benefit in the imperial system. obviously

however it would be time consuming, expensive and confusing to our population to change over.

there is little benefit to us changing to the metric system. we are a huge country with a large population and not a lot of daily mixing of average poeple with those who use the metric system. as i said, everyone who needs to use the metric system already does.

there is no big benefit to us, its expensive and its no pain to the rest of the world if our roads are marked in miles and i buy my sugar by the pound.

if we were picking a system from scratch we would use metric. since we already have a system, no need to change over.

Lets just measure everything in furlongs and be done with it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furlong

i demand that everything be measured in lightyears. and i do mean everything.

I'd guess that they'd post both speeds for a few years. Plus cars would start having metric measurements as the predominant ones, so it wouldn't be too hard for people to learn to match the numbers (hah! matching the speed limit!).

Except for using Celsius to measure temperature. That's just foolish. My Canadian friend on a hot day: "Oh my god, it's like, 30 degrees out here." :confused:

Or 303,15 kelvin, but that doesn't solve the inflation of degrees the US is stricken with. 98,6 degrees for normal body temperature? That's just silly.

Should we switch? Yes.

But we won't. Americans love tradition. And on top of that, we're stubborn.

I personally think it makes a lot more sense. Except for using Celsius to measure temperature. That's just foolish. My Canadian friend on a hot day: "Oh my god, it's like, 30 degrees out here." :confused:

Celsius seems sensible to me. The entire world nearly uses Celsius including the US where some science is involved.

0°C = freezing temperature for water
100°C = boiling temperature for water

i demand that everything be measured in lightyears. and i do mean everything.

Your progressive thinking is 3.57 lightyears ahead of conventional wisdom.

Most of us are taught metric anyways and if you are in a science field, you have to use it... the problem would not just be changing signs, but a lot of our tools are machined in the foot-pound system, so the cost would be rough. (Try doing work on your car with metric tools and the vehicle is in English measurements... ick)

0°C = freezing temperature for water
100°C = boiling temperature for water

Actually, no. The boiling point of water is 99.9839 °C. Older definitions of the Celsius scale put the boiling point of water under one standard atmosphere as precisely 100 °C. However, the current one (Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water at one standard atmosphere (101.325 kPa) when calibrated solely per the two-point definition of thermodynamic temperature) is 16.1 mK less.

there is little benefit to us changing to the metric system.

except in terms of trade, science, avoiding stupid engineering fuckups at nasa, and not looking like the backwards yokels we are, etc.

the best thing is that people don't actually know our system anyways. the only ones with any real familiarity are feet, yards, miles, and pounds. beyond that it's all 'heer be dragons'.

how many people get horribly confused when buying a 2 liter of pop?
people have tools in both metric and random bullshit already. measuring cups usually have both on them too. every car on the road except the true dinosaurs either displays both miles per hour and km or can easily switch between them.

all we have to do is start replacing road signs and official government stuff. and you don't have to do it all at once. when signs need to be replaced, make the new ones dual system. once 50% of the signs in an area have gotten to that point start dropping the retard system entirely.

Your progressive thinking is 3.57 lightyears ahead of conventional wisdom.
And 1.67889955 × 10^14 Furlongs ahead of conventional wisdom!

I love Google calculator.

NO!

It's pure nonsense to change a country's measuring system for the silly reason of "the rest of the world does X."

The last attempt to metric-ize the US already got us the halfassed result of such idiocy as litres of sodapop but gallons of milk. More of such messing with things just for the sake of messing with them is neither needed nor desireable.

Should we switch? Yes.

But we won't. Americans love tradition. And on top of that, we're stubborn.

I personally think it makes a lot more sense. Except for using Celsius to measure temperature. That's just foolish. My Canadian friend on a hot day: "Oh my god, it's like, 30 degrees out here." :confused:

That's actually the thing I find strangest about you Americans measurements (temperature).
I was going to say it was one of the things that you guys needed to change. XD

Although does temperature count as metric?

Fergi America;12139836']The last attempt to metric-ize the US already got us the halfassed result of such idiocy as litres of sodapop but gallons of milk.

of course, if we went metric in milk, we'd get a bit more milk out of the deal, but not really enough for most people to notice. 1 gal = 3.79 liters. so new milk would come in 4 liters.

sounds like a fine idea to me.

Fergi America;12139836']NO!

It's pure nonsense to change a country's measuring system for the silly reason of "the rest of the world does X."

The last attempt to metric-ize the US already got us the halfassed result of such idiocy as litres of sodapop but gallons of milk. More of such messing with things just for the sake of messing with them is neither needed nor desireable.

Well, as a to-be engineer, if America did conform, it would make my life, and all my colleagues life easier.

And when working as a machinist, it would make my line of work easier.

I don't consider making the machining sector and the engineering sectors of our economy as "messing with things for the sake of messing with them."

I'm with the "why does it matter" option.

I'm with the "why does it matter" option.

I nearly put a nice hole in my hand because of a metric/imperial conversion. Some moron had allowed part of the engravings on the drill bit to be filed off. Nearly put the bit through my hand. Thought it was eights of an inch. Was centimeters.

Yes, but you have to ask who would be the first American state to post "120km" on their interstates, or "100km" on their highways in defiance of the hicks who will put the pedal on the floor when they first see three numbers instead of two.

They used to. Back in the 70s many states posted their mileage and speed limit signs in both metric and English forms. I remember road signs in Missouri were like that for quite a while. They have since reverted back to only the English system.

When I was in grade school in the 70s they taught metric along side the English system. But by high school (80s) they had abandoned it.

I blame Regan for the back peddling. ;)

I don't consider making the machining sector and the engineering sectors of our economy as "messing with things for the sake of messing with them."

hey, just because it would greatly simplify things in an international economy is no reason to do something. in fact, we should make our system even more obscure. perhaps use measures for length that are also linked to density and electrical resistance. so things that would be the same length in the boring old system would actually have different lengths in the new one.

I nearly put a nice hole in my hand because of a metric/imperial conversion. Some moron had allowed part of the engravings on the drill bit to be filed off. Nearly put the bit through my hand. Thought it was eights of an inch. Was centimeters.

Honestly, think about it. Even after a decade, how would fully converting to the metric system help that? I mean, the Imperial stuff will still be floating around out there, and I'd be more than willing to bet that manufacturers will still make stuff in the old imperial system. Hell, my grandfather's old machine tool set is two times older than I am.

hey, just because it would greatly simplify things in an international economy is no reason to do something. in fact, we should make our system even more obscure. perhaps use measures for length that are also linked to density and electrical resistance. so things that would be the same length in the boring old system would actually have different lengths in the new one.

Honestly, I don't care.

That's actually the thing I find strangest about you Americans measurements (temperature).
I was going to say it was one of the things that you guys needed to change. XD

Although does temperature count as metric?

1. Do not colour your text differently. It's poor etiquette.

2. Thermodynamic temperature is an aspect of SI base (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SI). There is no such thing as "the metric system" as people in the US like to call it.

Why does that map claim Britain is non-metric? I don't understand the Imperial system because I was never taught it.

Because the UK is a jumble of possibly every system known to man. They use both imperial and metric, as well as others. Example: A stone is not a unit of measurement in either metric or imperial, but when you are weighed in Britain, they may say "10 stone 2", which is ten stone and two pounds, so that's a bit of imperial mixed in there. I live in Canada, and we converted to metric in the 70s, but for some reason we can't get our heads around centimetres and kilograms. We'll use kilometres, but save for government services weight is still calculated in pounds and height in feet. When asked by an non-governmental service I like to tell them my weight in kilos and height in centimetresm just to throw them off. I remember I had a 17 year old blonde chewing bubblegum who stared at me blankly for a moment before saying. "We're in Canada, do it our way." Ah, ignorance.

I think they should but after I'm dead. I don't wanna learn it...

Honestly, think about it. Even after a decade, how would fully converting to the metric system help that? I mean, the Imperial stuff will still be floating around out there, and I'd be more than willing to bet that manufacturers will still make stuff in the old imperial system. Hell, my grandfather's old machine tool set is two times older than I am.

Well, I assume you don't use your grandfather's old machine tool set to assemble electrical detection equipment. I concede that machine equipment does tend to stick around for a real long time, but if we start making metric now, eventually metric will be the only thing in the market. Perhaps our childrens' children won't have to worry about sawing their hands off.

I think they should but after I'm dead. I don't wanna learn it...

Think about it. You'll weigh somewhere around 70-80 kg (unless you're fat) and your penis will be around 15-20 cm (unless you're gifted/constrained). Sounds impressive, no?

Think about it. You'll weigh somewhere around 70-80 kg (unless you're fat) and your penis will be around 15-20 cm (unless you're gifted/constrained). Sounds impressive, no?

Sold. I'm off to Washington.

Sold. I'm off to Washington.

At 120 km/h!

hey, just because it would greatly simplify things in an international economy is no reason to do something. in fact, we should make our system even more obscure. perhaps use measures for length that are also linked to density and electrical resistance. so things that would be the same length in the boring old system would actually have different lengths in the new one.

(Ohm-pound-hands)/(furlong-seconds) ?

At 120 km/h!

This is the most fun I've had since I learned that though Santa Claus isn't real, he does live in all of our hearts!

When asked by an non-governmental service I like to tell them my weight in kilos and height in centimetresm just to throw them off. I remember I had a 17 year old blonde chewing bubblegum who stared at me blankly for a moment before saying. "We're in Canada, do it our way." Ah, ignorance.

I've never gotten used to feet and pounds for height and weight. Whenever somebody asks I say my height and weight in SI units. Nurses and doctors don't mind at all (they're trained in SI anyway). And since I work in an environment where most people are immigrants I rarely get asked to make the conversion.

This is the most fun I've had since I learned that though Santa Claus isn't real, he does live in all of our hearts!

*stabs you in heart for confirmation*

Or 303,15 kelvin, but that doesn't solve the inflation of degrees the US is stricken with. 98,6 degrees for normal body temperature? That's just silly.

Bigger numbers are better.

Bigger numbers are better.

Not when it comes to temperature and physiological processes dependent thereof.

*stabs you in heart for confirmation*

:( Now I'll never get a next-gen console.

:( Now I'll never get a next-gen console.

Wii!

Definately temperatures. Helps when cooking. Most ovens have C and F but my Boyfriend's only has C and that causes problems some times. Plus when you are in US on Vacation and they say the pool is 80 degrees F you have no idea whether its warm enough to go in.

Actually, no. The boiling point of water is 99.9839 °C. Older definitions of the Celsius scale put the boiling point of water under one standard atmosphere as precisely 100 °C. However, the current one (Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water at one standard atmosphere (101.325 kPa) when calibrated solely per the two-point definition of thermodynamic temperature) is 16.1 mK less.

Yeah I knew that. Freezing point is also 0.01 °C or 0.001 °C or something too. It is still taught (in Australia at least) as 0 and 100, which seems logical.

Yeah I knew that. Freezing point is also 0.01 °C or 0.001 °C or something too. It is still taught (in Australia at least) as 0 and 100, which seems logical.

Actually it depends on pressure and elavation.

Actually it depends on pressure and elavation.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a47/DarkSideOfTheSpoon/interesting.jpg

I'm from Australia too. Our country went metric back in the 60s. Basically the government said something like "in 5 years everything is going to be measured in metric units" and started teaching people the new units.

And once those 5 years was up everything was in metres and litres and Kg etc. There was none of this "use both systems side by side" that some people were suggesting. I say force people to change. It will be for the better as a number of other posters have pointed out.