Should the USA go metric?

[Robotengineer]

Do you think the USA should finally move to the metric system?

[Shpaget]

Of course.

Yeah, some may argue that all units and systems are arbitrary, but some are more arbitrary than others.

[BlueCosmology]

No, there's no real advantage to doing so (the only notable case where there would of been an advantage is the failure of that Mars probe) whereas there are a lot of disadvantages. Mainly the cost of replacing signage, and the confusion (and hence damage) that will be caused in the switchover.

[vger]

For the measuring of distance, volume, and weight, I wouldn't mind. Far less complicated.

However, I would hate it for temperature. Even my wife, who was born Canadian and spent more than 30 years of her life using Celcius, quickly found when moving to the States, that she had far less trouble with Fahrenheit when it came to gauging how warm/cold it actually was.

No, there's no real advantage to doing so (the only notable case where there would of been an advantage is the failure of that Mars probe) whereas there are a lot of disadvantages. Mainly the cost of replacing signage, and the confusion (and hence damage) that will be caused in the switchover.

The world already probably wastes a ton of money on international communication with the need to convert values all the time. Once you factor in the need to translate all the time, we would probably be saving money in the long run.

[Ralathon]

Yes. The imperial system is an arbitrary mess and nobody uses it in scientific circles. It is very confusing for people moving towards, or away from the US and it makes unit conversion needlessly complicated.

It is ridiculous that I as an european have to know how much cm go into an inch if I need to buy some copper pipe, because the US is being stubborn. It's a massive inconvenience for international trade.

[wizzlebippi]

@Shpaget

The US imperial system of measurement is a lot less arbitrary than you think. Yes, it is a mess of strange units and odd conversion factors, but there's unique units of measurement for everything from crops to liquor. Even an absolute temperature scale (Rankine). In my opinion, imperial units make far prettier and easier to understand numbers than metric.

Also, just because most of the world measures their roads in km doesn't mean they've fully embraced the metric system. For example, aircraft the world over (except China AFAIK) measure speed and altitude in knots and feet.

[vixr]

I have 10 digits on my hands, how hard can it be?

[crubs]

I think the US should alternate between the two systems like I do. For the purpose of science and engineering, I always use metric. However, for everyday practical measurements such as my height or room temperature or distance traveled, I find imperial to be more convenient.

[lajoswinkler]

Of course. The world laughs at the matter. It's ridiculous to even think that USA still holds on to that stupid system.

[JoCRaM]

Any system that uses "stick" as a unit of measure for butter is insane.

[vger]

I have 10 digits on my hands, how hard can it be?

Be careful using that as an argument. You'll end up having people say the Metric system discriminates against people with disabilities.

[Shpaget]

there's unique units of measurement for everything from crops to liquor.

How is that a benefit? Or less arbitrary than metric? Why should somebody use one unit of mass for pork bellies and another one for liquor? Is there something inherently wrong with comparing a mass of one with a mass of another that you should want to separate them and make the comparison impossible without conversion?

In my opinion, imperial units make far prettier and easier to understand numbers than metric.

Why?

Also, just because most of the world measures their roads in km doesn't mean they've fully embraced the metric system. For example, aircraft the world over (except China AFAIK) measure speed and altitude in knots and feet.

Sure, but noting that somebody else is doing a stupid thing is not good enough reason to do the same stupid thing.

That being said, aviation has (had) a fairly good reason to use feet for altitude. It just so happened to be developed mostly in US and as such inherited the imperial system in those facets. In modern times where all controlled traffic has onboard computers and autopilots it really doesn't matter what units an autopilot uses. For example, a flight level 200 is defined as 20 000 feet, but a computer can just as easily calculate it as 6 100 m. Or a convention can be changed.

The decision to use imperial was arbitrary. ICAO could have picked either, but I suppose American lobby was more influential.

[Darnok]

Metric you say... ok so 1 meter is calculated as 1 second / speed of light in m/s.

So you are calculating 1 meter using meters per second, where did you get "old" value of meter from? And how accurate it can be?

Not to mention how second is calculated and how many errors we get using both in one equation

I am not from USA and not really like miles and inches etc, but meters suck.

[Kryten]

So you are calculating 1 meter using meters per second, where did you get "old" value of meter from? And how accurate it can be?

This doesn't make any sense-it's the distance light travels in a second, you don't need an 'old value' to get that.

[Darnok]

This doesn't make any sense-it's the distance light travels in a second, you don't need an 'old value' to get that.

If you need distance and speed, so you need old value of your length unit? Without it you can say 1/random number = 1 meter

[PakledHostage]

Also, just because most of the world measures their roads in km doesn't mean they've fully embraced the metric system. For example, aircraft the world over (except China AFAIK) measure speed and altitude in knots and feet.

Knots - nautical miles per hour - are used in navigation because the nautical mile was defined in more convenient terms relative to the size of the Earth than the kilometer (in so far as how they were originally defined). And while the nautical mile isn't a true SI unit, it is accepted for use in the SI system. It is even currently defined as EXACTLY 1852 metres rather than some exact number of feet.

And as to why feet are used for altitudes in aviation? Well... Two wrongs don't make a right.

[Kerbart]

Telling the US to go metric is like telling to smoker to quit or the fat man to lose weight. Yeah, we all know we ought to. And it's better for us in the long run. But maybe another time, ok?

[Kryten]

If you need distance and speed, so you need old value of your length unit? Without it you can say 1/random number = 1 meter

You don't need distance and speed, you use speed and time to get distance.

[Shpaget]

Metric you say... ok so 1 meter is calculated as 1 second / speed of light in m/s.

So you are calculating 1 meter using meters per second, where did you get "old" value of meter from? And how accurate it can be?

Not to mention how second is calculated and how many errors we get using both in one equation

I am not from USA and not really like miles and inches etc, but meters suck.

No.

Meter is defined as the Length of the path traveled by light in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second (17th CGPM); while the second is defined as the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium 133 atom.

[Darnok]

You don't need distance and speed, you use speed and time to get distance.

And how you calculate speed without length unit? And how you can calculate distance without unit?

Time is also inaccurate, so is speed of light, because to measure the duration of 9192631770 periods of the caesium 133 atom you also needed OLD time unit.

So basically we are using meters calculated using old-inaccurate meters and second calculated using old-inaccurate seconds... and we call that science

[Randazzo]

The United States of America doesn't care what you think.

/thread

[AngelLestat]

The real question is... who voted for "No" ???

But does not matter, I dont wanna lose IQ discussing this.

Just remember, you are the only ones in the world using that crazy thing...

If the smurfs would invented a new unit system based on mushrooms, that would have much more sense than the imperial system.

[softweir]

They should continue to go metric. The problems that can be caused in the Real World of engineering (not just aerospace) are enormous, and sometimes very expensive. I say "continue" to go metric, because in fact most engineers DO now use metric units at all stages of their work, except when sending out press releases when everything has to be converted for the press.

An example problem: A stateside engineering company prepared plans for a factory to be built in the UK, which included a spreadsheet of all the ducting, piping and cabling lengths necessary. They sent the plans to the company that would be doing the building, and stated that all measurements were metric. The builders started pre-ordering materials. Then a kid on work experience noticed that the toilet cubicles were stated to be nearly TEN METRES WIDE! The US engineers had got the conversion back-to-front for many measurements, so a lot of linear measurements, for instance, were 3.28^2, ie. 10.75 times too big.

That sharp-eyed kid saved the builders a ....load of money in over-ordered ducts, pipes and wiring. The builders had to ask for the plans in traditional measurements and do the conversions themselves.

At least there is only one non-metric system to deal with - there used to be several different versions across the world! My grandfather was an engineering consultant and he had to carry tables of conversions for the different standards of foot, yard, pound and so on that he encountered during his work (and had to use a sliderule to do the conversions, but that's a different story).

Nevertheless, two systems of units is one too many, and life will get a lot simpler if we ever manage to cut it down to just one.

[Kryten]

And how you calculate speed without length unit?

You don't. You have a speed that is a constant, the speed of light in a vacuum.

And how you can calculate distance without unit?

You don't, you measure it.

[TheDarkStar]

If you need distance and speed, so you need old value of your length unit? Without it you can say 1/random number = 1 meter

A meter is defined as the distance that light travels in 1/299,792,458 of a second. The "random number" is (299,792,458/c).