Metric vs. other measurement systems - chart

[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.

[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.