Metric vs. other measurement systems - chart

[Bony]

Well said Carl. From your example a cubic metre of water contains 1,000 litres and it follows that one litre of water weighs one kilogram, a millilitre weighs one gramme etc.
It's all so easy using the metric system, with a divisor between like units of one thousand. Eg 1,000 mm = metre, 1,000 metres = one kilometre etc.
I'm still confused as to why in the US large units of measurement are not converted into more manageable units for example a dozer weighs 100,000 lbs, that's incomprehensible. Why don't you guys say 50 tons ?, or whatever the conversion is.

[Bony]

According to Google, only three countries in the world use the Imperial system of measurement, Liberia, Myanmar and the US. What does that tell you?

[carl blum]

Hello Bony:
My theory is news reporters pick the units to empathize the direction they are taking with the story. If they want BIG, they pick units that express the units with a number from 6 to 9, and with as many zeros as possible. If they want to make sound small, a from 1 to 4. Most folks can't make change for a nickle so they go with their gut feeling about numbers. And to use the Metric system correctly you should never use a numerator over 999, just use the proper prefix: Say megameter, 1 Mm, not 1000 km.
Carl.

[mklotz]

According to Google, only three countries in the world use the Imperial system of measurement, Liberia, Myanmar and the US. What does that tell you?

The US doesn't use the Imperial system. They use a system termed the 'US customary units'. The US system is based on the Imperial system and shares some units with it but some units differ and units that are not in the Imperial system are included.

Both systems are ridiculously and unnecessarily complex. They vividly demonstrate the stupidity of allowing conventions of particular industries to become part of the measurement system. They were never intelligently designed but rather evolved into the mish-mash they are.

The fact that so many disparate cultures have adopted the intelligently designed metric system is testimony to the need for simplification. Face it - if you can get the Germans and the Italians to agree to use a system designed by the French, it must be good.

[Bony]

I agree wholeheartedly Marv, so what would it take to introduce the metric system, or does politics prevent any hope of that? I would like to think that common sense would prevail.
We managed it in Australia in 1972, mind you we also had pounds, shillings and pence as currency, and that would have been sufficient catalyst on its own!

[mklotz]

I agree wholeheartedly Marv, so what would it take to introduce the metric system, or does politics prevent any hope of that? I would like to think that common sense would prevail....

I won't comment on the political angle. Politics and religion usually lead to off-topic, generally vituperative, flame wars that have no place on engineering fora.

I will say this... If the general public here was forced to use metric, they would have two measurement systems they did not understand.

[bruce.desertrat]

According to Google, only three countries in the world use the Imperial system of measurement, Liberia, Myanmar and the US. What does that tell you?

That the US is the only country on earth that can successfully wreck a $327 million dollar interplanetary probe mission because...one contractor used Imperial units instead of the Metric ones NASA expected...

[hemmjo]

I won't comment on the political angle. Politics and religion usually lead to off-topic, generally vituperative, flame wars that have no place on engineering fora.

I will say this... If the general public here was forced to use metric, they would have two measurement systems they did not understand.

Lack of understanding is the key to all of the issues facing humanity. Not only measurement systems, but so many other, even more important issues. Many with much more consequential implications for all of us. I have been alive, living in the USA for 76 years, nearing 77. I spent 35 of those years teaching "shop class" know as Industrial Arts, which morphed into Industrial Technology, then just Technology as the public grew weary of anything "Industrial". I began teaching in 1974. There was a big push to go metric around that time. That fizzled.

In fact;

History of Metric Conversion Efforts in the USA
Early Attempts

1793: Thomas Jefferson proposed evaluating the metric system for the United States.
1866: The Metric Act made the use of metric weights and measures legal, but it was not mandatory.

Significant Legislation

1975: The Metric Conversion Act was signed into law, declaring the metric system as the preferred system for trade and commerce. This act allowed for voluntary conversion to metric units.

Recent Developments

1991: An executive order directed U.S. government agencies to adopt the metric system as the preferred system of weights and measures.

Current Status

Despite these efforts, the conversion to the metric system has faced resistance, and U.S. customary units remain widely used in many sectors.


Full DIsclosure the preceding time line is an AI generated response to "when did the USA try to convert to metric"

In reality the only thing magical about the metric system is the basis for the units and the decimal relationship between them all. There is no argument, it is indeed a well thought out system.

That said, one with thinking skills should be able to work in any system presented. If you do not truly know how to use measurements, does not matter which system, you will still mess it up.

It would be nice if there was only one system, just as it would be nice if we all spoke the same language, but we don't. We can even miss understand people who are using the same language.

Perhaps when the world hits the reset button it will reboot with everyone agreeing on everything. But I am not going to hold my breath. I just work with what I have.

[mklotz]

...
In reality the only thing magical about the metric system is the basis for the units and the decimal relationship between them all. There is no argument, it is indeed a well thought out system. ...

There's more to it than power-of-ten unit relationships. Separate units for mass and force (using different names, no less) and getting rid of units like fluid-ounce that depend on the nature of the substance measured are just two examples.

Getting a populace too dumb to take their eyes off their smart phone when crossing a busy street to understand the nuances of physics and the need to use only one unit to measure each physical quantity tells me the polloi could never learn anything new. Remember, these were the people who thought they were being gypped when the 1/4 lb burger was replaced by the 1/3 because everyone knows that 3 is less than 4.

[hemmjo]

Then we need to get into language. That is even more crazy;

to, too, two
red, read, read
led, lead, lead, l.e.d.

The list goes on and on.