I don't get it, why is metric better?

[dpb]

As in Britannia rules the waves...still.

[J. Clarke]

Would be nice, but I think those days are gone.

[dpb]

Still using English units, ain't they... :)

I think you missed the reference.

[whit3rd]

History tells us that Louis XV got into debt; the tax/rent collectors came around one year with the largest bushel measures anyone had ever seen, to collect the royal rent on farmland, in bushels of grain.

After the French Revolution, it was deemed wise to establish measures that could NOT be (arbitrarily) changed by authority. To this day, that principle still applies: the meter is defined by measurable universal constants (instead of the not-quite-spherical Earth circumference).

The meter is as non-arbitrary as we know how to define a distance. The word 'meter' is a human construct, and one can see variations like 'metre', but that's the ONLY arbitrary thing about it.

[whit3rd]

You're young. I've stripped the threads on a 1mm pitch hub by threading on a 24tpi cluster. Maybe twice, in fact (but that was decades ago).

[J. Clarke]

It is completely arbitrary. You seem to be conflating "arbitrary" with "undefined". Some authority somewhere decided that it's x length. That they made up some story about it being x fraction of y dimension of z planet does not make it any less arbitrary than saying that it's the length of this stick of wood that I'm handing you. In either case somebody decided how big it is. Then in the case of the Metric system some organization with enough clout to make it stick imposed it on their empire and everybody else except the bigger badder competing empire decided to go with it. And since the US is derived from the bigger badder competing empire the US keeps its own other arbitrary system and for convenience there has been an agreement on standard relationships between the two.

This does not mean that after Putin conqers the world he can't redefined the liter to be the capacity of his bladder or some such, all he has to do is shoot everybody who tries to enforce the existing definition.

[Ed Pawlowski]

That would be appropriate as the metric discussion ends up as a pissing contest anyway.

Metric is gaining with more imported stuff all the time. Liter has become a standard for many liquids. The 12 oz can exists mostly because of the vending machines.

Most of the opposition is from people afraid of or unwilling to change. I worked with it for 40 years now because I had to in the industry and it is not a big deal to use if you are open minded. Only downside, I had to buy a metric adjustable wrench.

I don't understand why the world has so many languages. English works so the entire world should just speak English. Them other languages just make no sense at all.

[Clare Snyder]

Even English is foreign to 'mericans

[krw]

Apparently it is to Canuckistanis too.

[krw]

Not just sailors. Airmen, too. The international units for distances and wind speed are in knots. Of course altitude and runway length is all mixed up, with the US using feet and the rest of the world, meters.

[DerbyDad03]

...said in the 470th post of a thread that's been running for 3 years.

Well, 3 years by Gregorian standards, that is.

I don't get it. Why is the Gregorian calendar better?

[steve robinson]

Same with weight , you have the imperial ton , metric tonne and the American (short) ton

Imperial ton is 2440 pounds or 1.01605 metric tonne or 1.12 US tons Same with gallons too

[Spalted Walt]

In metric, one millilitre of water occupies one cubic centimetre, weighs one gram, and requires one calorie of energy to heat up by one degree centigrade... which is 1% of the difference between its freezing point and its boiling point. An amount of hydrogen weighing the same amount has exactly one mole of atoms in it. That makes perfect sense right? Everything adds up perfectly, 1 centimetre = 10 millimetres, 1 decimetre = 10 centimetres, 1 metre = 10 decimetres.

Whereas in the Imperial system, the answer to "How much energy does it take to boil a room-temperature gallon of water?" is "Go f*ck yourself," because you can't directly relate any of those quantities.

[pyotr filipivich]

Compared to what? (Says he who is in a church rent asunder between those who insist on keeping the Julian Calendar, and those who've adopted the reformed calendar which is, and will be until 2800, in sync with the civil / Gregorian calendar.)

The advantage to the Metric system is that calculating unit relationships is "simpler". The drawback to the Metric system in the US is the installed user base. Specifically in manufacturing: how many thousands of dollars of measuring tools are in toolboxes which will need to be replaced? Not to mention the wrenches, sockets and the like.

[Leon]

Metric is good for those people that are not good at fractions.

[Leon]

Yeah, BIG girl!

[Ed Pawlowski]

That was a valid argument 30 years ago. Remember when auto shops advertised "we service foreign cars"? You can't have a shop today without metric tools for your American car.

It will take a long time, but the US is shifting to metric.

[steve robinson]

metrics a pain in the arse too many numbers to bugger around with and people dont stick to industry standards , industry standards is milimeter , meter , kilometer but you still get some individuals use centimeters and on most drawings in construction they miss off the designation or the decimal place , at least with feet and inches you new wear you stood

[Scott Lurndal]

That's one of the most cacographic rants I've read this week.

[gray_wolf]

Right on! I recall reading ages ago that somewhere in some industries like building steam engines, trains and such that all dimensions were to be in millimeters as a missed decimal place caused too many problems. I also read that the metric people weren't as good at mental math ability as the imperial folks.