Metric System versus U.S. System

Green Lantern · #1 10-02-2009, 08:01 AM

I just finished reading this piece this morning - http://www.mcall.com/news/all-carp1-...2121034.column

It was about how the rest of the world is on the Metric System for measuring size, distance, temperature, weight, etc and how the U.S. is still using inches, miles, ounces and Fahrenheit as it's main measurement system.

Should we comply to the rest of the world? Are we out of step and out of synch with the world if we continue to follow the current way we measure just about everything?

daisy-dog · #2 10-02-2009, 08:08 AM

I prefer our system for temperature.
Finer gradiations between freezing and boiling.
32 to212 vs 0 to 100

180 vs 100 jumps

I also like the fact that I have a way to picture the measurements.
An inch = the width of the thumb
A foot = the length of your foot
A yard = the distance between your out stretched arms

Summerrain · #3 10-02-2009, 08:25 AM

Conversions are easy enough... We should all know how to do them... But in this lazy society, you can just google it and have the computer do your conversions.

Green Lantern · #4 10-02-2009, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daisy-dog

I also like the fact that I have a way to picture the measurements.
An inch = the width of the thumb
A foot = the length of your foot
A yard = the distance between your out stretched arms

Not all of us are the perfect specimen of man like you are DD.

I have small feet, short arms and sausages for fingers. none of those would work for me

Summerrain · #5 10-02-2009, 08:31 AM

I know that if I spread all my fingers out, from the tip of my thumb, across to the tip of my pinky is exactly 8 inches. We won't say what I measure with it...

daisy-dog · #6 10-02-2009, 08:34 AM

A yard of ale

Summerrain · #7 10-02-2009, 08:35 AM

Makes me thirsty...

dond · #8 10-02-2009, 01:01 PM

You know they talked about the US going to the metric system when I was a kid. I'm almost 61.

daisy-dog · #9 10-02-2009, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dond

You know they talked about the US going to the metric system when I was a kid. I'm almost 61.

Have you noticed we now have litres of soft drinks and booze? And your car speedometer has kilometers per hour?

Green Lantern · #10 10-02-2009, 01:20 PM

In the article above it states that Hawaii and Arizona have speed limit signs in Metric.

I like the idea of Metric with wrenches. It is a paint to figure out what the next size wrench below a 5/8 is.

Mr Crab · #11 10-02-2009, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by green lantern

in the article above it states that hawaii and arizona have speed limit signs in metric.

I like the idea of metric with wrenches. It is a paint to figure out what the next size wrench below a 5/8 is.

9/16" unless it's metric then it's 15mm

Altoona Man · #12 10-02-2009, 02:02 PM

There are two other countries that use the standard system besides us. Not sure who, but there are some. I like the old system myself because it's easily divisible. For example, you have a dozen which is 12 of something, and a half dozen is 6, quarter dozen is 3, etc. Here are some others.

Liquid: Three teaspoons make one tablespoon, two tablespoons make an ounce, 2 oz make a half-gill, 4 oz make a gill, 8 oz make a cup or half-pint, 16 oz make a pint, 32 oz make a quart, 64 oz make a half-gallon, 128 oz make a gallon. It gets more complex when you factor in barrels and hogsheads, but let's leave that for now. There are also some outdated liquid measurements rarely used anymore.

Length: 12 inches make a foot, three feet make a yard, six feet make a fathom, sixteen and a half feet make a rod, four rods make a chain, 220 feet make a furlong, and 5280 feet make a mile. A mile is also 1000 paces (but paces haven't been used as a unit of measurement for a very long time). A league is 3 miles.

Weight: 16 oz make a pound, 100 lbs makes a hundredweight, 2000 lbs or 20 hundredweights make a ton. We also have a grain (1/7000 of a pound), one dram (1/16 oz). There are also some other units of weight measurement, such as the stone (originally 14 lbs in the British system, but 12.5 lbs in the US system during the short time period it was implemented).

I like it as it is, but I can see the use of the metric system. But I'm one of those who likes the easy divisibility of the traditional system and being able to have stuff to compare it to, and often similarities to everyday objects are factored in.

daisy-dog · #13 10-02-2009, 02:42 PM

Who remembers the Whitworth system?
I had an old Volvo that needed 3 types of wrenches.

Sae, metric, and whitworth:

Whitworth

Chase · #14 10-02-2009, 07:38 PM

interesting..

Orion · #15 10-02-2009, 08:40 PM

I use both systems because of my profession plus the Rankine Scale for temperature. The only system I don't use is BPS (British Pipe).

Metric is easy to understand for me because everything is base 10 for distance, mass, and volume. Which is very accurate over the SAE system.
For the temperature scales F and C there one common point where the scale crosses at -40.

We are manufacturing equipment using metric fasteners for state side and the international markets. Of course our scientific products LED displays are in °C.