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US going metric?
I'm curious, has there ever been an attempt at going metric in the US? e.g.
using Celsius? How do people feel about it? jj |
US going metric?
"jj" wrote in message ... I'm curious, has there ever been an attempt at going metric in the US? e.g. using Celsius? How do people feel about it? jj Astronomer Carl Sagan (billions upon billions of stars in the cosmos....) was one of the biggest proponents in the 70's and 80's but it never took off. It's rather a non-issue among the general population. Metric and metric conversion are taught in public schools, for what it's worth. Chris |
US going metric?
I'm curious, has there ever been an attempt
at going metric in the US? e.g. using Celsius? How do people feel about it? Metric is widely used in scientific and engineering situations, in manufacturing, etc., but for everyday uses (such as temperature) most folks stick with the system they grew up with. Often there is dual labelling. For example, a can of Pepsi will list both ounces and mL; car speedometers give both miles per hour and kilometers per hour (although miles is in much bigger type). I doubt if we'll see much of a push from politicians to mandate metric for everyday use, as it woulnd't be popular with the general public. But I think folks are gradually becoming more comfortable with metric and we'll see a gradual changeover, although it may take decades. James ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Remove "NOSPAM" from my address when sending me e-mail. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ - |
US going metric?
In article , jj wrote:
I'm curious, has there ever been an attempt at going metric in the US? e.g. using Celsius? How do people feel about it? Well, there was an aborted attempt in the late 1980s/early 1990s for the highway signs; what killed it was a lack of funding to do the conversion fully due to some political lobbying by well heeled folks. The complaint from businesses can be generally summarised as being 'it's going to be prohibitively expensive'... well, the Canadians seemed to do ok on the whole with their own conversion not too long before that... I believe there's been several other attempts to convert the country into the metric system over the years, but significant opposition in the right spots managed to kill that idea completely. Some industries may already be using partial or completely metric measurements; U.S. aviation is used to some aspects of the metric system. For instance, all aviation weather reports are given out in degrees Celsius, and most folks are used to barometric pressure in either inches of mercury or millibars. For instance, a barometric altimeter pressure setting of 29.92 inches of mercury is equivalent to 1013 millibars. Then there's science, which commonly deals with metric units. In my high school honor physics course (years ago), the first day was an immediate introduction (or review, for the experienced) of the metric system which was firmly adhered to for the entire year of class. To this day, I still remember the gravitational "constant" 'g' was 9.80465 m/s^2 at the precise location where the high school was. Since the textbook assumed 9.81 m/s^2 for 'g', we went by that for the textbook exercises. I can't speak for others, but it wouldn't really bother me a whole lot; I'm already used to dealing with metric units with others such as Canadians, Europeans, etc... and regularly visit Canada and other spots in the world. I'd guess the split between acceptance and rejection would probably lie partially on age grounds; young(er) people seems to be more flexible in way of thinking whereas someone older (like the folks passing the laws or budget) might be less so inclined. And in this country, if you have sufficient amount of money, you can usually get favo(u)rable laws passed (or shot down)... In my case, there'd be a slight adjustment since I'm a little shaky with metric conversion at the really small level because I don't yet easily visualise the magnitude, but a little time and practice usually takes care of that. -Dan |
US going metric?
jj wrote:
I'm curious, has there ever been an attempt at going metric in the US? e.g. using Celsius? How do people feel about it? In the early '70s, there were some Joint Resolutions which said, basically, that the US should begin thinking about getting ready to prepare for the possibility of considering a change to the metric system. In the mid '70s I worked a job in a place that had international sales and in light of the supposed atmosphere of metrification that was spreading across the land I made a remark one day about the firm's units of measurement. The foreman just about jumped down my throat. 'Why should WE change?!?' he demanded. 'We're number one! Let the rest of those countries [sic] change to OUR way!' And in my firm, as in America generally, that was that. cheers, Henry |
US going metric?
Dan Foster wrote:
Well, there was an aborted attempt in the late 1980s/early 1990s for the highway signs; what killed it was a lack of funding to do the conversion fully due to some political lobbying by well heeled folks. Why would anybody lobby on either side of the issue of road signs? Road signs would have to be the least important aspect of using metric measurement in any case. |
US going metric?
Originally posted by Rj Why would anybody lobby on either side of the issue of road signs? Road signs would have to be the least important aspect of using metric measurement in any case. Erm, not if you are driving along and you see a sign for "60", but dont see the small print at the bottom as you whizz by. In this hypothetical example, some of the signs across the nation have been changed to kmh, some are still mph, how fast should you be going? Changing all the signs at once would cost a lot of $$$, and requires a lot of political will, not to mention the logistical issues, so on a practical level, road signs would be a big issue. Not that there is a hope in hell of the US adopting the metric system anyway. my 2c Iain -- Posted via http://britishexpats.com |
US going metric?
In article ,
"jj" wrote: I'm curious, has there ever been an attempt at going metric in the US? e.g. using Celsius? How do people feel about it? I believe there was a half-hearted attempt to go metric in the '70's. Other than for scientific purposes, I don't ever expect the United States to officially adopt the metric system, although it would definitely benefit from doing so. |
US going metric?
"jj" wrote in message ... I'm curious, has there ever been an attempt at going metric in the US? e.g. using Celsius? How do people feel about it? jj Back in the 70's they took some early steps with some highway signs in KM's. That didn't last. Basically Americans like what's familiar. To me it would make sense for weights and distances. But, sorry, but for air temperature, Fahrenheit makes so much more sense, with zero to 100 being about the range of temps we see in a the northern US. Yeah, some places go below zero, and some go above 100. But it is so much more informative than the much more limited range on the Celsius scale. Celsius makes more sense for scientific work though. Scientists in the US do use only metric. |
US going metric?
"RJ" wrote in message
... Dan Foster wrote: Well, there was an aborted attempt in the late 1980s/early 1990s for the highway signs; what killed it was a lack of funding to do the conversion fully due to some political lobbying by well heeled folks. Why would anybody lobby on either side of the issue of road signs? Road signs would have to be the least important aspect of using metric measurement in any case. Well, if a road sign were to read "Gotham 167 kilometers" and American speedometers, odometers, fuel consumption computers and trip computers are all in miles, some people might feel more comfortable with the old system. KM -- (-:alohacyberian:-) At my website there are 3000 live cameras or visit NASA, play games, read jokes, send greeting cards & connect to CNN news, NBA, the White House, Academy Awards or learn all about Hawaii, Israel and mo http://keith.martin.home.att.net/ |
US going metric?
"Bill" wrote in message
... "jj" wrote in message ... I'm curious, has there ever been an attempt at going metric in the US? e.g. using Celsius? How do people feel about it? jj Back in the 70's they took some early steps with some highway signs in KM's. That didn't last. Basically Americans like what's familiar. To me it would make sense for weights and distances. But, sorry, but for air temperature, Fahrenheit makes so much more sense, with zero to 100 being about the range of temps we see in a the northern US. Yeah, some places go below zero, and some go above 100. But it is so much more informative than the much more limited range on the Celsius scale. Celsius makes more sense for scientific work though. The ease and convenience with the metric system is far superior to the hodgepodge used in the United States, though I agree that the use of Fahrenheit and feet instead of celsius temperatures and meters offers much more exact measurements and I think for that reason most Americans will prefer the current sytem over metric for a long, long time. And I think Americans by and large prefer miles to kilometers for distance, though personally, I think kilometers are probably a better way to measure distance, but don't expect most Americans to agree with me. KM -- (-:alohacyberian:-) At my website there are 3000 live cameras or visit NASA, play games, read jokes, send greeting cards & connect to CNN news, NBA, the White House, Academy Awards or learn all about Hawaii, Israel and mo http://keith.martin.home.att.net/ |
US going metric?
On Mon, 05 Jan 2004 01:39:25 +0000, iaink
wrote: Changing all the signs at once would cost a lot of $$$, and requires a lot of political will, not to mention the logistical issues, so on a practical level, road signs would be a big issue. Not that there is a hope in hell of the US adopting the metric system anyway. I believe I-19 from 'Tucson to Mexico is the only metric interstate in the country. All distances and "mileposts" are metric, so that even the interchange numbers (based on the "milepost") are the kilometers from the southern end instead of miles. On the streets and roads that interchange with I-19 the approach sings are metric, e.g., "I-19 500 meters." But the speed limit signs are in miles per hour, and I would expect this to be because the statutory speed limits are in miles per hour. ************* DAVE HATUNEN ) ************* * Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow * * My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps * |
US going metric?
On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 21:37:34 -0500, Me wrote:
In article , "jj" wrote: I'm curious, has there ever been an attempt at going metric in the US? e.g. using Celsius? How do people feel about it? I believe there was a half-hearted attempt to go metric in the '70's. Other than for scientific purposes, I don't ever expect the United States to officially adopt the metric system, although it would definitely benefit from doing so. The United States officially adopted the metric system in the late 19th century, and ever since then our units have been defined in terms of the metric units. What the United States didn't do was mandate its usage by the public. As a de facto matter, though, almost any industry or business that operates internationally has converted to metric; I believe even cars made by the American manufacturers are actully metric these days. For the most part only everyday things retain the English system, such as speedometers, milk jugs and such. I can't say liquor and wine bottles, since they are metric anyway. But even those items which are nominally English/American units, such as the 12 ounce soda cans also carry the content in ml as well. Even potato chip (crisps) bags have the metric conversion from the content in ounces. ************* DAVE HATUNEN ) ************* * Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow * * My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps * |
US going metric?
"jj" wrote in message ...
I'm curious, has there ever been an attempt at going metric in the US? e.g. using Celsius? How do people feel about it? jj Hi! I was born in "Celsius" European country, now living in San Francisco Bay area. I like western USA, but in my opinion half population (Asians, south and central Americans) + thousands tourists and international busisnessmen in San Francisco area don`t know the fahrenhait scale. Weather in local TV news and in newspapers is in fahrenhait only. Where is problem in TV or newspapers to write 90F/32C or 82F/28C or 54F/12C ? I don`t know. I even complained to local TV station and had nice answer, but they don`t plan to change. |
US going metric?
florian wrote: Hi! I was born in "Celsius" European country, now living in San Francisco Bay area. I like western USA, but in my opinion half population (Asians, south and central Americans) + thousands tourists and international busisnessmen in San Francisco area don`t know the fahrenhait scale. Weather in local TV news and in newspapers is in fahrenhait only. Where is problem in TV or newspapers to write 90F/32C or 82F/28C or 54F/12C ? I don`t know. I even complained to local TV station and had nice answer, but they don`t plan to change. Probably the same reason I rarely see Fahrenheit mentioned on weather news when traveling to much of Europe. |
US going metric?
Me wrote:
In article , "jj" wrote: I'm curious, has there ever been an attempt at going metric in the US? e.g. using Celsius? How do people feel about it? I believe there was a half-hearted attempt to go metric in the '70's. Other than for scientific purposes, I don't ever expect the United States to officially adopt the metric system, although it would definitely benefit from doing so. About the only effect of the 1970s effort is the two-liter soda bottle. -- Evelyn C. Leeper http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper Loyalty to petrified opinion never broke a chain or freed a human soul. --Mark Twain |
US going metric?
|
US going metric?
On Sun, 4 Jan 2004 23:07:46 -0500, "Bill" wrote:
"jj" wrote in message ... I'm curious, has there ever been an attempt at going metric in the US? e.g. using Celsius? How do people feel about it? jj Back in the 70's they took some early steps with some highway signs in KM's. That didn't last. Basically Americans like what's familiar. To me it would make sense for weights and distances. But, sorry, but for air temperature, Fahrenheit makes so much more sense, with zero to 100 being about the range of temps we see in a the northern US. Yeah, some places go below zero, and some go above 100. But it is so much more informative than the much more limited range on the Celsius scale. Celsius makes more sense for scientific work though. Scientists in the US do use only metric. I grew up in U.K. during the time that they switched from fahrenheit to Celsius (via centigrade). Having used both systems I find the Celsius much better. I think that this will depend upon the temperature range where you live. In more temperate climates, the nice round 0 when it is going to be freezing has a nice ring to it, but when it is below freezing for 3 months in a row that doesn't help much. In practice I think that people would fairly quick get use to whichever system is used, not that it will change any time soon. Of course the U.K. is even more mixed up when it comes to the use of imperial / metric. All large distances are miles, but many younger (and not so young) people use metres for shorter distances. Pounds (and stones) are common for your own weight, but kilograms for most other weights |
US going metric?
"iaink" wrote in message
... Why would anybody lobby on either side of the issue of road signs? Road signs would have to be the least important aspect of using metric measurement in any case. Erm, not if you are driving along and you see a sign for "60", but dont see the small print at the bottom as you whizz by. In this hypothetical example, some of the signs across the nation have been changed to kmh, some are still mph, how fast should you be going? Changing all the signs at once would cost a lot of $$$, and requires a lot of political will, not to mention the logistical issues, so on a practical level, road signs would be a big issue. Not that there is a hope in hell of the US adopting the metric system anyway. Iain Good points. KM -- (-:alohacyberian:-) At my website there are 3000 live cameras or visit NASA, play games, read jokes, send greeting cards & connect to CNN news, NBA, the White House, Academy Awards or learn all about Hawaii, Israel and mo http://keith.martin.home.att.net/ |
US going metric?
"Evelyn C. Leeper" wrote in message
t... Me wrote: In article , I believe there was a half-hearted attempt to go metric in the '70's. Other than for scientific purposes, I don't ever expect the United States to officially adopt the metric system, although it would definitely benefit from doing so. About the only effect of the 1970s effort is the two-liter soda bottle. Also the displacement of automobile engines changed from cubic inches to liters. KM -- (-:alohacyberian:-) At my website there are 3000 live cameras or visit NASA, play games, read jokes, send greeting cards & connect to CNN news, NBA, the White House, Academy Awards or learn all about Hawaii, Israel and mo http://keith.martin.home.att.net/ |
US going metric?
"Me" wrote in message ... In article , "jj" wrote: I'm curious, has there ever been an attempt at going metric in the US? e.g. using Celsius? How do people feel about it? I believe there was a half-hearted attempt to go metric in the '70's. Other than for scientific purposes, I don't ever expect the United States to officially adopt the metric system, although it would definitely benefit from doing so. Except for the currency of course. US was one of the first. |
US going metric?
"Henry" wrote in message ... jj wrote: I'm curious, has there ever been an attempt at going metric in the US? e.g. using Celsius? How do people feel about it? In the early '70s, there were some Joint Resolutions which said, basically, that the US should begin thinking about getting ready to prepare for the possibility of considering a change to the metric system. In the mid '70s I worked a job in a place that had international sales and in light of the supposed atmosphere of metrification that was spreading across the land I made a remark one day about the firm's units of measurement. The foreman just about jumped down my throat. 'Why should WE change?!?' he demanded. 'We're number one! Let the rest of those countries [sic] change to OUR way!' And why not, I suppose! Americans can do their thing, just as long as they don't expect everyone else to follow. On the whole they haven't. America has different standards to the rest of the world for many things, measurments, mobile phones etc. Personally, living in the UK they've been trying to introduce metric here for decades, and it's largely suceeded. However there are still many shops selling fruit etc by the pound, even though it's actually illegal, they get away with it. My view is that it isn't because of what customers want, rather than if they price in KG their prices would look a lot higher! The best situation, IMO is to have one system or another. In the US they seem to have decided on imperial measurments, which is good. Unlike here were we have a mishmash of both. |
US going metric?
"Bill" wrote in message ... Back in the 70's they took some early steps with some highway signs in KM's. That didn't last. Basically Americans like what's familiar. With all the drive to metricate in the UK. It has always been said that the roads would never change. Distance will always be in miles and speeds in mph. Perhaps they didn't like the Irish example where distances are now all in km but speed limit signs are in mph! To me it would make sense for weights and distances. But, sorry, but for air temperature, Fahrenheit makes so much more sense, with zero to 100 being about the range of temps we see in a the northern US. Yeah, some places go below zero, and some go above 100. But it is so much more informative than the much more limited range on the Celsius scale. Celsius makes more sense for scientific work though. Scientists in the US do use only metric. Each to their own, I guess it's what you are used to. But I find the fahrenheit scale makes no sense at all! Zero for freezing, one hundred for boiling point. Makes much more sense than 32 for the freezing point! And another point not related to your post. I usually see Americans calling the system of measurment English, as opposed to Metric. Well we mostly don't use that system so much so it's not 'English' any more, the correct term is Imperial. |
US going metric?
what about high school math/science? would kids be taught in Metric
measurements? Would most young people know how big a metre, or a kilogram is? "Me" wrote in message ... In article , "jj" wrote: I'm curious, has there ever been an attempt at going metric in the US? e.g. using Celsius? How do people feel about it? I believe there was a half-hearted attempt to go metric in the '70's. Other than for scientific purposes, I don't ever expect the United States to officially adopt the metric system, although it would definitely benefit from doing so. |
US going metric?
jj wrote: what about high school math/science? would kids be taught in Metric measurements? Would most young people know how big a metre, or a kilogram is? I was taught the metric system in the USA in the 70's. I believe they still teach both. Consumer markets still use the old system but I work in engineering and use both about equally. |
US going metric?
On Sun, 4 Jan 2004 23:04:25 -0000, "jj" wrote:
I'm curious, has there ever been an attempt at going metric in the US? e.g. using Celsius? How do people feel about it? When my kids were in elementary school, about 20 years ago, they were given intensive education in the metric system, with the thought that the US might be going metric by the time they were grown. It kind of fizzled out. It's really difficult to motivate such a large country to change anything as major as this. You know, the bigger the mass, the greater the inertia. -------- Barbara Vaughan My email address is my first initial followed by my last name at libero dot it. |
US going metric?
"jj" wrote in message ... what about high school math/science? would kids be taught in Metric measurements? Would most young people know how big a metre, or a kilogram is? Of course they are exposed to it - a meter is a little more than a yard, a kilometer is about half a mile and a liter is about a quart. That's about all they remember unless they got into a science that required it or had a teacher who loved to instill metric. Chris |
US going metric?
In article , jj wrote:
what about high school math/science? would kids be taught in Metric measurements? Would most young people know how big a metre, or a kilogram is? In physics, it was. Even for general science in the 7th grade, the metric system was taught as units of measurement and was practised consistently throughout the entire year. It is possible it is taught in earlier grades elsewhere. (Note: I am speaking of a public school education; it _may_ be different or better with private schools.) I don't recall any math courses up to the early 1990s having ever used the metric system -- and I've been to at least 10+ different schools -- which is likely a reflection on the curriculum standards adopted by the local board of education with an eye toward usability in one's immediate surroundings (city, state, country). With the more advanced math courses, things tend to become unit-independent in explaining the theory and derivation, such as calculus. Specific application of that for locally used units is left as an exercise for the reader, so to speak. If you asked the average metric-familiar person on the street for specific dimensions in metres (or other forms of measurements in the metric system), they might have to think for a few moments or find conversion factors, but they would likely eventually come to an answer within the general vicinty, or even exactly right. Of course, I should mention that I don't really have a good idea of how many people are familiar or comfortable with the metric system in the U.S. So I only speak of these who *do* know something about the metric system. I could certainly give you reasonably acceptable answers if it involves meters, kilometers, kph, litres, degrees celsius (centigrade), kilograms, or some such... it's just the really small units that I can roughly guess the magnitude of but need a little more time to make a more accurate guess on the conversion. Given a little time to look up the conversion factors, I can give you a perfect answer every single time :-) -Dan |
US going metric?
Mark Hewitt wrote:
"Henry" wrote in message ... jj wrote: I'm curious, has there ever been an attempt at going metric in the US? e.g. using Celsius? How do people feel about it? In the early '70s, there were some Joint Resolutions which said, basically, that the US should begin thinking about getting ready to prepare for the possibility of considering a change to the metric system. In the mid '70s I worked a job in a place that had international sales and in light of the supposed atmosphere of metrification that was spreading across the land I made a remark one day about the firm's units of measurement. The foreman just about jumped down my throat. 'Why should WE change?!?' he demanded. 'We're number one! Let the rest of those countries [sic] change to OUR way!' And why not, I suppose! Americans can do their thing, just as long as they don't expect everyone else to follow. On the whole they haven't. America has different standards to the rest of the world for many things, measurments, mobile phones etc. Personally, living in the UK they've been trying to introduce metric here for decades, and it's largely suceeded. However there are still many shops selling fruit etc by the pound, even though it's actually illegal, they get away with it. My view is that it isn't because of what customers want, rather than if they price in KG their prices would look a lot higher! The best situation, IMO is to have one system or another. In the US they seem to have decided on imperial measurments, which is good. Unlike here were we have a mishmash of both. That confused the heck out of me when I was in England. I can do metric and I can do imperial, but both was very confusing. Between that and money conversion, the whole trip was one constant math problem. Manda |
US going metric?
"Mike O'sullivan" wrote in message ... "Me" wrote in message ... In article , "jj" wrote: I'm curious, has there ever been an attempt at going metric in the US? e.g. using Celsius? How do people feel about it? I believe there was a half-hearted attempt to go metric in the '70's. Other than for scientific purposes, I don't ever expect the United States to officially adopt the metric system, although it would definitely benefit from doing so. Except for the currency of course. US was one of the first. Your "quarters" worth? Ah, the decimal fraction. Actually the 70's changed the face of high school and university track and field forever....ah, er perhaps the track and not so much the field. Interesting. s |
US going metric?
Mark Hewitt wrote:
Personally, living in the UK they've been trying to introduce metric here for decades, and it's largely suceeded. However there are still many shops selling fruit etc by the pound, even though it's actually illegal, they get away with it. My view is that it isn't because of what customers want, rather than if they price in KG their prices would look a lot higher! Also, beer is still sold in pints. -- Evelyn C. Leeper http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper Loyalty to petrified opinion never broke a chain or freed a human soul. --Mark Twain |
US going metric?
"Mark Hewitt" wrote in message ...
[snip][ Each to their own, I guess it's what you are used to. But I find the fahrenheit scale makes no sense at all! Zero for freezing, one hundred for boiling point. Makes much more sense than 32 for the freezing point! I do understand the desire to have the freezing point of water to be zero, but in practicaly reality it is fairly meaningless number. 40F is considered the "danger point" around here for opening up emergency shelters for the homeless (higher if it's raining). We get frost warnings for anything below about 36F. Most freezers are around 20F (I heard the poultry industry considers "fresh" meat to be anything never stored below 20F as well). Alternately, 100C/212F isn't fairly useful either. Once you start to get over 95F, it's potentially dangerous to many folks. Water much below 80F will be considered "cool" to a bather, and it has to get below about 60 before most drinkers will consider it "cool". The typical fridge is about 40F. Truth is, boiling point of water, or anything else really, is a strong function of absolute content and atmosphere. The degree F however is a smaller increment than celcius and in most of the applications I need the scales for, I prefer that finer division. That is generally my complaint about many metric units, they're just a darn inconvienent size. The centimeter is too small, but the meter is too large. Feet is nice for alot of what I use those dimensions for. I will admit that the kilometer is probably a more convienent unit than the mile for a whole variety of reasons. The pound is a nicer size than the kilogram but even that one is messed up which is why I find myself buying a quarter pound of stuff all the time. Probably a good defense of the gram. And another point not related to your post. I usually see Americans calling the system of measurment English, as opposed to Metric. Well we mostly don't use that system so much so it's not 'English' any more, the correct term is Imperial. Actually, since there is no singular system, there really is no singular correct name. I see various references to "US Standard", which is kind of a misnomer since there isn't much of one. I'm sure the commerce department has rules on all these things though. I'm pretty sure though that no one is using the imperial system. So they probably aren't referring to what "you" used. |
US going metric?
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US going metric?
"jj" wrote in message ... what about high school math/science? would kids be taught in Metric measurements? Would most young people know how big a metre, or a kilogram is? In the UK I went to school in the 80's and we were taught exclusively in metric. No mention of imperial measurments whatsoever. In preparation for coming out of school and the metric system having been introduced. Of course it didn't happen that way. Everyone was getting taught one system in school and having to use another in real life. This was confusing as you might expect. Even now I couldn't really tell you how many inches in a foot or ounces in a pound etc, I just never learned it, so it's never stuck. |
US going metric?
alohacyberian wrote:
The ease and convenience with the metric system is far superior to the hodgepodge used in the United States, though I agree that the use of Fahrenheit and feet instead of celsius temperatures and meters offers much more exact measurements and I think for that reason most Americans will prefer the current sytem over metric for a long, long time. And I think Americans by and large prefer miles to kilometers for distance, though personally, I think kilometers are probably a better way to measure distance, but don't expect most Americans to agree with me. KM Having worked with metric measurements for the last 26 years, I have to say that I find it much easier to work with than the Imperial system. While one degree F may be a finer measurement than one degree C, most people cannot detect the difference. And when dealing with weather, humidity and wind can distort temperature sensations so much that they would not be able to tell anyway. I find it handy to have 0 degrees as the freezing point because it makes a significant difference to the weather. Anything below that is freezing (water). If people really want a finer measurement of temperature they can also use half degree C. (.5). Let's face it, the Imperial system is confusing. It is so much easier to deal with units of ten. 12 inches in a foot, 3 feet in a yard, 5,280 feet or 1,760 yards in a mile, 4,480 sq. ft. in an acre, 640 acres in a sq. mile. Where is the sense in that? It comes as no surprise to me that many of those who are opposed to converting to metric do not even know most of the Imperial system. They are unaware of bushels, pecks rods, drams, noggins etc. The biggest hang-up that people seem to have is in conversation. Once you make the switch to metric you do not need to convert. You simple measure in metric. If you are going to a city 60 miles away and the speed limit is 60 mph you do not have to convert the 60 to (roughly) 100 and the speed to (roughly ) 100 kph. The city is 100 km. away and doing 100 kph you will be there in an hour. If you walk outside and the temperature is 0 C, you do not have to convert it to 32F. It's cold. It's 0 degrees. |
US going metric?
"Mark Hewitt" wrote in message ... This was confusing as you might expect. Even now I couldn't really tell you how many inches in a foot or ounces in a pound etc, I just never learned it, so it's never stuck. Don't worry - most kids in the U.S. couldn't tell you that, either, until they need it for something practical. vbg Chris |
US going metric?
People in the UK still give their weight in "stones" too.
"Evelyn C. Leeper" wrote in message et... Mark Hewitt wrote: Personally, living in the UK they've been trying to introduce metric here for decades, and it's largely suceeded. However there are still many shops selling fruit etc by the pound, even though it's actually illegal, they get away with it. My view is that it isn't because of what customers want, rather than if they price in KG their prices would look a lot higher! Also, beer is still sold in pints. -- Evelyn C. Leeper http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper Loyalty to petrified opinion never broke a chain or freed a human soul. --Mark Twain |
US going metric?
me wrote:
"Mark Hewitt" wrote in message ... [snip][ Each to their own, I guess it's what you are used to. But I find the fahrenheit scale makes no sense at all! Zero for freezing, one hundred for boiling point. Makes much more sense than 32 for the freezing point! I do understand the desire to have the freezing point of water to be zero, but in practicaly reality it is fairly meaningless number. 40F is considered the "danger point" around here for opening up emergency shelters for the homeless (higher if it's raining). We get frost warnings for anything below about 36F. Most freezers are around 20F (I heard the poultry industry considers "fresh" meat to be anything never stored below 20F as well). Alternately, 100C/212F isn't fairly useful either. Once you start to get over 95F, it's potentially dangerous to many folks. Water much below 80F will be considered "cool" to a bather, and it has to get below about 60 before most drinkers will consider it "cool". The typical fridge is about 40F. Truth is, boiling point of water, or anything else really, is a strong function of absolute content and atmosphere. The degree F however is a smaller increment than celcius and in most of the applications I need the scales for, I prefer that finer division. 22.1°C, 22.2°C, 22.3°C... works for me. DMW |
US going metric?
If I remember correctly there was a movement in the mid 70's to go metric. I
think the reason people in the United States do not like metrics is that schools spent most of their time teaching how to convert from feet and so forth to metrics. You end up with unusual number results. If you used metrics from scratch, it is much easier than the other methods. I learned metrics in chemistry, and found the system easy. Tom |
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