Metric vs. other measurement systems - chart

[hemmjo]

This reminds me of an article about those kids that were trapped in the underwater cave a couple of years back. I think it was in Thailand. One of the UK newspapers had an infographic showing a cross section of the rescue path to illustrate how difficult the rescue was going to be. They described the narrowest part of the passage as being "The width of four Mars candy bars"...

Would than be the "Fun Size" (19.7 g) the "Snack Time" (36.5 g), the regular sized single 58 g bar OR the "king-size" 84 g bar?

All we can do is smile and do our best!!!!

[hemmjo]

Quickly reading the article points out a much more CRITICAL deficiency in the understanding of measurement by MOST people, no matter what units you use.

The article clearly states, "....has a diameter between 92 and 210 metres. This means it could range from the size of the Statue of Liberty to the length of two NFL-size football fields..."

Even if you have no idea what a meter is, if you truly understand measurement, and simple math you can easily see the asteroid is from "this big" to over "twice this big". However when writers start to mix units, it becomes foolish. Why not simply say, "the size can be between one to two Statues of Liberty". Or between "one and two Football fields".

It is so unfortunate that we get so much of our information from Journalists who no longer study how to clearly communicate information. Instead they study how keep the consumers "attention" long enough to air the commercials. It does not matter if what they say is true or not, as no one will call them on it anyway.

One of my favorite lines came from a reporter covering the city's preparations for the upcoming winter season. She pointed to a single axle truck stating, "this truck is ready to go with 20,000 TONS of salt". It happens all the time.

Merry Christmas Walmart shoppers!!!

[mklotz]

Which raises the question, what is the accepted length of a football field?

In Usonian football, the playing area is 100 yards (300 feet) long but there are two 10 yard endzones so the total field length is 120 yards (360 feet).

Then there's the matter of what "football" means. In many countries, it's soccer, and I believe the dimensions of soccer fields can vary.

Thankfully, I'm ignorant of all the other forms of the game played throughout the world. It seems that "football field" is as rubber a measurement as "barrel" or "bushel".

[Jon]

That's ironic; even a football field is not the standard measurement length of a football field.

This one was easy to make, even with my limited graphic skills:

[mklotz]

Even more ironic...

Since its length is unspecified, it's logical to average 100 yards and 120 yards to get 110 yards, which is almost exactly 100 METERS.

[I secretly enjoy manufacturing these fictitious joins between the two systems to confound the stupid. In college, I had a liberal arts major gal convinced that the frequent use of the dozen in the inferial system was due to widespread polydactylism among the Quaker colonists.]

[FEM2008]

Even more ironic...

Since its length is unspecified, it's logical to average 100 yards and 120 yards to get 110 yards, which is almost exactly 100 METERS.

[I secretly enjoy manufacturing these fictitious joins between the two systems to confound the stupid. In college, I had a liberal arts major gal convinced that the frequent use of the dozen in the inferial system was due to widespread polydactylism among the Quaker colonists.]

That was mean!

[hemmjo]

Had to look up Polydactyly or polydactylism ... (from Greek πολύς (polys) 'many', and δάκτυλος (daktylos) 'finger'), also known as hyperdactyly, is an anomaly in humans and animals resulting in supernumerary fingers and/or toes. Polydactyly is the opposite of oligodactyly (fewer fingers or toes).

I can go back to bed now I learned my "something new" for today!!!

[mklotz]

That was mean!

Not as mean as the ingénue I convinced that my senior thesis was the equations of motion that demonstrated why meteorites always land in craters.

[hemmjo]

Not as mean as the ingénue I convinced that my senior thesis was the equations of motion that demonstrated why meteorites always land in craters.

Oh Marv, That is too easy!!! It is for the same reason that you always find lost items in the last place you look!!!

[Nick79]

When I taught Physics years ago we used metric - almost exclusively. Occasionally I needed to explain a concept using the "other" system to help a few students understand what was happening. I enjoyed challenging my students and once- tongue-in-cheek told them America was going to shift to "metric TIME" they didn't know what to do after that suggestion....