Imperial versus metric

[farmerben]

A pint is a pound the world around

[kerbiloid]

If the Anglosphere is so fond of dozens, then why do the English numerals end with "-teen" and "-ty", rather than "-dzen" and "-dzy" ?

Or at least "dzen" → "tzen".

eleven, twelve, onetzen, twotzen, thretzen, ..., eleventzen, twotzy, twotzy one, ..., twotzy eleven, ...

Eleventzy eleven = 143

[StrandedonEarth]

[TomKerbal]

On 1/15/2023 at 9:42 PM, tomf said:

Ah you made the classic error, at 40m the pressure is 5 atmospheres, and what are these forums for if not needless pedantry.

But seriously I have tried diving in Imperial units and I can't imagine how anyone properly plans a dive. The ridiculous way Americans define the size of a cylinder, as the volume that gas stored at a particular pressure will assume at atmospheric pressure, doesn't help though.

Apropos pedantic : If you dive in a (initially) vacuum chamber filled with water the pressure above the water surface becomes 23.39 mbar (given 20 degC, or ? Fahrenheit+-7.39292%.. today (approx., with a good glass of wine)) and the pressure in 40m depth is (ideally speaking) 4.02339bar then . And the imperial units are more and more becoming impressive for me. You can even dive in it !

[kspbutitscursed]

Imma drop this and go

[Nuke]

i blame hardware store culture. was over at our little hardware store yesterday. mom got a used power wheelchair and it needed a few parts. they are all made in china so everything is metric. i find this ironic because these things are so well regulated by the relevant agiencies that they still use lead acid batteries and brush motors, eschewing lithium ion and brushless motor technology ubiquitous on e-bikes, drones, and children's ride-on toys (i guess its ok for children to die in battery fires but not old people). they also regulate replacement parts, one time my mom had to get a prescription for a motor and new batteries. you even need a cert to do the repair even though its all pretty much off the shelf technology (its really just a paywall for service manuals and proprietary tools). the us government seems to swing either way, military uses metric and nasa seems to alternate, at least on their public facing information. reguardless our hardware store mostly speaks freedom units. so when i went to look for grub screws, there were 7 trays of imperial and only 1 with metric (and frankly i was shocked they had any at all).

Edited April 6 by Nuke

[kerbiloid]

While in the Metric System world it is year 2024, the British Empire still lives in 1208, because they have 144 years in a century.

Wait... Century??? Cent- means "hundred", i.e. 10x10.

The Imperial system must have a 144 year long dozentury.

[Piscator]

That's gross.

Spoiler

So maybe a grocery.

 

[darthgently]

45 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

While in the Metric System world it is year 2024, the British Empire still lives in 1208, because they have 144 years in a century.

Wait... Century??? Cent- means "hundred", i.e. 10x10.

The Imperial system must have a 144 year long dozentury.

Dodecentury?

[kerbiloid]

5 hours ago, Piscator said:

That's gross.

Yes, I'm aware from the Well's When The Sleeper Wakes,  but was afraid of misunderstanding.

Also he used dozand for dozen of grosses.

[kerbiloid]

0.001 m = 1 millimeter

0.001 g = 1 milligram

0.001 mile = ... 1 millimile = either 160.9 cm (land), or 185.2 cm (sea), about a height of a human.

That's because sailors were higher than peasants, and thus the naval millimile is longer.

[Deddly]

The Swedish mile ("mil") is 10km. Swedish people are reeeeealy tall. 

[magnemoe]

3 hours ago, Deddly said:

The Swedish mile ("mil") is 10km. Swedish people are reeeeealy tall. 

Same in Norway, mile is 10 km. 
Sea miles makes some sense as its one minute latitude so its probably easier to work with on maps. 

Now for an real weird standard who makes no sense. Shotguns come in 12 and 16 bore, 10 and 20 is known but rare. 
10 is larger than 12 who is larger than 16. Well 12 bore is because you can make 12 spherical balls of an pound of lead. Same with 16 bore so its smaller. 
This also go the other way with cannons you have among others 18-24-32 pound guns, not sure if this used an lead or iron ball reference however. 
The naming system lasted up to WW 2 where artillery fired standard shells usual with the powder in an brass cartridge, this was combines in smaller guns and separate for larger ones like 5"
But at this stage, its just an brand name/ standard  as the cartridge has to fit to the gun. Lots of various rifle ammo who is 7.62 diameter but don't fit in the same rifle.  

[Kermann Nolandung]

Nautical mile and kilometre are both defined by the one minute of arc.

One is defined in a sexagesimal system where a circle subdivided in 360° (degree), itself in 60’ (arcminute), itself in 60”(arcsecond).
The other one is defined in a decimal system where a circle is subdivided into 400ᵍ  (grad or gon), itself in 100 centigrad (centesimal minute of arc).

1 kilometre is the distance defined by one centesimal minute of arc of the Earth’s circumference (40 000 km).
1 nautical mile is the distance defined by one minute of arc of the Earth’s circumference (21 600 NM).

milli- prefix is a subdivision in a decimal system.
In a way 1 meter is 1 millikilometre

To be consistent, a statute mile subdivision should be chosen among the furlong, chain, rod, yard, foot, etc.

[kerbiloid]

10 hours ago, magnemoe said:

Sea miles makes some sense as its one minute latitude so its probably easier to work with on maps. 

By the British Imperial royal standard, the sailor height must be equal to one thousandth of the equatorial angular minute, while the French may be their metric one fortymillionth if they want.

10 hours ago, magnemoe said:

18-24-32 pound guns, not sure if this used an lead or iron ball

Cast iron. The cannons and the cannoballs started being casted from it after XIV cent, and the cast iron artillery totally changed everything.

[farmerben]

13 hours ago, Kermann Nolandung said:

To be consistent, a statute mile subdivision should be chosen among the furlong, chain, rod, yard, foot, etc.

A Roman mile is 1000 double paces of a Roman soldier.

Edited July 8 by farmerben

[Superfluous J]

13 hours ago, farmerben said:

A Roman mile is 1000 double paces of a Roman soldier.

The trick comes down to identifying WHICH soldier.

[kerbiloid]

On 1/17/2023 at 3:53 PM, farmerben said:

A pint is a pound the world around

1 pint ~= 0.5 litre

1 litre ~= 2 pints.

1 pintolitre:

Spoiler

Unites systems!

 

3 hours ago, Superfluous J said:

The trick comes down to identifying WHICH soldier.

Each soldier. The thousand makes one step.

[PakledHostage]

On 7/7/2024 at 2:17 PM, Kermann Nolandung said:

1 kilometre is the distance defined by one centesimal minute of arc of the Earth’s circumference (40 000 km).
1 nautical mile is the distance defined by one minute of arc of the Earth’s circumference (21 600 NM).

That may be how the kilometer was originally defined, but the ratio you give is no longer correct.  A nautical mile is now defined as a derived SI unit equalling exactly 1852 metres. The circumference of a perfect sphere where 1 minute of arc is 1 NM would therefore be 40003.2 km. 

[Superfluous J]

1 hour ago, PakledHostage said:

The circumference of a perfect sphere where 1 minute of arc is 1 NM would therefore be 40003.2 km. 

And yet Earth still tries to squeeze into size 40000 jeans.

[kerbiloid]

40 000 Jeans = 360 * 60 Johns

 

Wait... The Earth is growing!

[Deddly]

No, those are long John's. 

[darthgently]

4 hours ago, Deddly said:

No, those are long John's. 

That explains the warming trend right there

[kerbiloid]

_{(from https://pikabu.ru/story/pochemu_u_amerikantsev_imperskaya_sistema_izmereniya_11981479?cid=327750950)}

Spoiler

 

 

 

[Deddly]

An interesting discussion on the Imperial Banana for Reference vs the Metric Banana for Scale.