Metric/Imperial

[notb665]

Does anyone think it is about time to do away for good the imperial system, with its non-uniform and unscientific measurements? It is also a mis-mash of different country's measurements - some from France, Italy, Germany, England, biblical.

 

[AdamW]

Good luck!

Many people in the UK are "unit bilingual". This has happened in many countries where metrication took place. I have read on Aussie fora that most people out there see "l/100km" as a stupid measurement of fuel economy and will convert to mpg in order to make sense of it.

As I see it, the advantage of the imperial units in common use are that they are "natural", convenient units. Whereas the metric system invites excess resolution when giving simple dimensions that really aren't required to any degree of precision.

You want a beer? Have 1 pint. not 500ml.
Your height? 6-foot, or 183cm?
How fast is fast? 100kph? I wouldn't say so. 100mph? Yes, probably.
Bra sizes. Metric bra sizes are weird...
Shoe sizes? Why the HELL am I a size 46?! Are there any adult men out there who are a size 1? No. Because it is a continuous range from baby-feet through children's feet all the way up to basketball player feet. Children and adults have entirely different shoe needs: I have no need of "non-marking soles", nor do my office shoes need to be able to withstand a game of football every lunchtime.

Ask a lady if she would prefer a throbbing 10-incher or a 25.4-cm-er. She'll tell you which is bigger.

For the most part, I have no problems using the metric system and can give you my weight and height in either. The only problem I have with metric is... yup, fuel economy. l/100km. Possibly the stupidest and most cumbersome unit in existence. It doesn't even obey the SI rules (surely it should be litres/metre, although I would accept l/1000km or ml/km instead)

 

[AdamW]

with its non-uniform and unscientific measurements?

The choice of units is somewhat arbitrary. The SI system chose to use metric units as a starting point. I agree that the SI system is much easier when doing the maths, however the metric system is only a subset/contributor to the SI system.

And in terms of the arbitrary nature, look up the definition of a metre... not particularly round numbers there

1983 October 21 — The seventeenth CGPM defines the length to be distance travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second

And it used to be

1960 October 20 — The eleventh CGPM defines the length to be equal to 1,650,763.73 wavelengths in vacuum of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the 2p10 and 5d5 quantum levels of the krypton-86 atom.

So, do you want to measure your fuel economy in mpg, or would you rather:

The number of litres volume of fuel, where a litre is defined as a volume equal to that occupied by 1 kg of pure water at the temperature of its maximum density (3.98 °C) under a pressure of 1 atm, where 1 kg is the mass which would be accelerated at precisely 2×10−7 m/s² if subjected to the per metre force between two straight parallel conductors of infinite length, of negligible circular cross section, placed 1 metre apart in vacuum, through which flow a constant current of exactly 6.241 509 629 152 65×1018 elementary charges per second, required to allow the vehicle to be propelled under its own power for a distance of 100km, equal to 16,507,637,300,000 wavelengths in vacuum of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the 2p10 and 5d5 quantum levels of the krypton-86 atom.

Is that scientific enough for you?

 

[kendor]

So, do you want to measure your fuel economy in mpg, or would you rather:
The number of litres volume of fuel, where a litre is defined as a volume equal to that occupied by 1 kg of pure water at the temperature of its maximum density (3.98 °C) under a pressure of 1 atm, where 1 kg is the mass which would be accelerated at precisely 2×10−7 m/s² if subjected to the per metre force between two straight parallel conductors of infinite length, of negligible circular cross section, placed 1 metre apart in vacuum, through which flow a constant current of exactly 6.241 509 629 152 65×1018 elementary charges per second, required to allow the vehicle to be propelled under its own power for a distance of 100km, equal to 16,507,637,300,000 wavelengths in vacuum of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the 2p10 and 5d5 quantum levels of the krypton-86 atom.

Is that scientific enough for you?

Not really, could you explain it from a quantum angle?

 

[WoodYouLike]

Shoe sizes? Why the HELL am I a size 46?!

So you can really 'act' your shoe-seize

Why are there 12 inches in a foot? Or just over 3 feet in a yard? Why not 2 pounds to a kilo, 10 decimeter to a meter, 10 centimeter to a decimeter, 10 millimeters to a centimeter.

I know, I'm Dutch, we like to keep things simple

 

[Richardp]

I think its time to get rid of metric

 

[petewood]

Why are there 12 inches in a foot? Or just over 3 feet in a yard?D

Hope you don't sell flooring by the yard if you think a yard is over 3 feet!


What about the older measurements, eg. cubits, nails, spans, rods, chains etc. Furlongs are still used but I'm not sure about els and ens, I think one is for paper and one is for cloth but I'm sure a scrabble-player will know.

 

[WoodYouLike]

Why are there 12 inches in a foot? Or just over 3 feet in a yard?D

Hope you don't sell flooring by the yard if you think a yard is over 3 feet!

So I'm right? more than 3 feet to a yard (3.15 feet ?)
And no, we sell by the square meter We don't 'trick' people, like some do when they price their flooring in square yards ! (And I've even seen companies promoting themselfs as the cheapest when they sell per square feet. If you would 'translate' that into a price per sq meter they are extreemly expensive!)
We're honest

 

[petewood]

more than 3 feet to a yard (3.15 feet ?)

exactly 3 feet in a yard.

 

[WoodYouLike]

Never to old to learn

 

[notb665]

Never to old to learn

OK then, it's "Never too old to learn". Droevig. Ik ben droevig!

 

[WoodYouLike]

Nope, it's Ik zijn droevig

Joke!
to or too, then or than. It all sounds the same!

 

[2scoops0406]

A lot of the "imperial" measurement were based upon what was easily observable at the time. For instance one acre is the amount of land that can be ploughed in a day by a bloke and an Ox. Also the units were chosen to be easily divisible i.e 12 is divisible by 1,2,3,4,6 makes life a bit easier.