Is it time for the U.S. to go metric?

[cravnsn]

We are the largest, richest most developed country in the world still using measures of gallons, miles, pounds & Fahrenheit. Isn’t it about time we caught up with the rest of the world and started using liters, kilometers, kilograms & Celsius?

I’ve been trying to “convert” familiar measures in my day to day dealings and doings. Anyone else think it’s time?

[DetroitSportsFan]

Nope.

[phantompwr]

What, and have to give up slug-feet?

[Beta Man]

It's about time for the rest of the world to conform to us.....

[IMG][/IMG]

[Rob71]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

It's about time for the rest of the world to conform to us.....

[IMG][/IMG]

I had a Venezuelan tile man ask me if I could cut 30 cm off one of my 2x4's for him. I told him "No, we don't use the metric system". At least I think that's what he asked me, I don't speak spanish.

I did cut it for him, it's not his fault that his boss is a criminal.

[Galley]

It's something we should've done 30 years ago. Most industry uses the metric system these days.

[My_Two_Cents]

Well, I'm sure that over the next couple of years as we march down the path of s*****ism trying to appease Western Europe and the rest of the world, conversion to the metric system will most likely be on the agenda somewhere...

[kefrank]

the metric system makes much more sense and is much easier to use, so no, the U.S. will never adopt it.

[Slec]

Actually a law was passed in the 70's ('74-75 I think). But like all great politicians, they made it a voluntary move to the metric system, so here we are.

Edit for Source: Boring law read

[quexos]

But you guys are metric aren't you ?

1 dollar is 100 cents.

[JimShaw]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

It's about time for the rest of the world to conform to us.....

[IMG][/IMG]

Agreed!

[CrabbyAzz]

Originally Posted by kefrank

the metric system makes much more sense and is much easier to use, so no, the U.S. will never adopt it.

We're far too arogrant to ever admit a system other than ours is superior.

[big-bleu]

I live in canada where we have metric and i find it dumb

[Anthony P]

We're far too arogrant to ever admit a system other than ours is superior.

but it is not yours, that is why it is called Imperial system. It is British and even they mostly got rid of it

[Rob71]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

but it is not yours, that is why it is called Imperial system. It is British and even they mostly got rid of it

Ours is slightly different. For instance our gallons are smaller than Imperial. After we "threw of the yoke of British oppression" , they fiddled with theirs and we didn't.

[Moviefan1203]

It's time for the United States to catch up with the rest of the world. Using the same measuring system would help lead us in the right direction.

[Chevypower]

I have lived in Australia with metric and they still measure peoples height in feet and inches, i have lived in the US (and still do) where they use the older system, and measure car engine sizes in liters. I think it doesn't really matter, I am used to both systems. It's nice to have differences in other countries... makes it more interesting when you travel. Otherwise the world would be a boring place.

[horseflesh]

Originally Posted by CrabbyAzz

We're far too arogrant to ever admit a system other than ours is superior.

But seriously, the imperial system is , it makes absolutely no sense.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by quexos

But you guys are metric aren't you ?

1 dollar is 100 cents.

That would make it decimal.

Metric specifically refers to using SI units of temperature, length/area/volume, and mass/weight.

Gary

[U4K61]

Originally Posted by cravnsn

We are the largest, richest most developed country in the world still using measures of gallons, miles, pounds & Fahrenheit. Isn’t it about time we caught up with the rest of the world and started using liters, kilometers, kilograms & Celsius?

The Measurements Post

I recall in school during the 70's, we were taught metric along with difficult to remember formulas to convert to standard measures, which I forgot. Then there was the failed attempt to give speed and distance in both mph and kph for the highway. It never flew, people were confused. We should have just gone cold turkey and went metric 100%. Soda comes in 1, 2 and 3 liter bottles and we don't give it a second thought.

Scientific Notation - standard form, exponential notation, a × 10^b
100 = 1×10²
1,200 = 1.2×10^3
1,230,000,000 = 1.23×10^9

Prefixes

• E - exa 10^18
• P - pete 10^15
• T - tera 10^12
• G - giga 10^9
• M - mega 10^6
• k - kilo 10^3
• h - hecto 10^2
• da - deca 10^1
• -- (base unit)
• d - deci 10^-1
• c - centi 10^-2
• m - milli 10^-3
• u - micro 10^-6
• n - nano 10^-9
• p - pico 10^-12
• f - femto 10^-15
• a - atto 10^-18

Le Système International d'Unités (SI Units)

• m - metre (length), The distance light travels in a vacuum, in 1/299792458th of a second.
• kg -kilogram (mass), The mass of an international prototype of a platinum-iridium cylinder.
• s - second (time), The length of time taken for 9192631770 periods of vibration of the caesium-133 atom.
• A - ampere (electric current), A specified force between two parallel wires which are 1 metre apart in a vacuum.
• K - kelvin (temperature), 1/273.16th of the thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water.
• mol - mole (amount of substance), The amount of substance that contains as many elementary units as there are atoms in 0.012 kg of carbon-12.
• cd - candela (luminous intensity), The intensity of a source of light of a specified frequency

Supplemental Units

• rad - radian, Plane angle.
• sr - steradian, Solid angle.

SI Derived Units

• Hz - hertz, frequency/s s-1
• N - newton, force kg·(m/s²) kg·m/s²
• Pa - pascal, pressure. 1 Pa = 1 N/m² = 1 kg/(m·s²)
• J - joule, energy or work N·m kg·m2·s-2
• W - watt, power J/s kg·m2·s-3
• C - coulomb, electric charge A·s A·s
• V - volt, electric potential W/A kg·m2·s-3·A-1
• F - farad, electric capacitance C/V kg-1·m-2·s4·A2
• Ω - ohm, electric resistance V/A kg·m2·s-3·A-2
• S - siemens, electric conductance A/V kg-1·m-2·s3·A2
• Wb - weber, magnetic flux V·s kg·m2·s-2·A-1
• T - tesla, magnetic flux density Wb/m2 kg·s-2·A-1
• H - henry, inductance Wb/A kg·m2·s-2·A-2
• °C - degree Celsius, temperature K - 273.15 K
• rad - radian, plane angle m·m-1
• sr - steradian, solid angle m2·m-2
• lm - lumen, luminous flux cd·sr cd·sr
• lx - lux, illuminance lm/m2 m-2·cd·sr-1
• Bq - becquerel, activity /s s-1
• Gr - gray, absorbed dose J/kg m2·s-2
• Sv - sievert, dose equivalent Gy·(multiplier) m2·s-2
• Kat - katal, catalytic activity mol/s mol·s-1

Conversions
1 inch = 2.54 centimeters
39.37 inches = 1 meter
1 Mile = 1.609344 Kilometers
1 ounce = 28.35 grams
1 pound = 454 grams
2.2 lbs = 1kg
1 metric ton = 1000 kilograms (kg)
1 quart = 0.946 liter
C = (5/9)*(F-32), F = (9/5)*C+32, K = C + 273

Glossery

Magnitued
A quantity specified by a number and unit.

Scalar
A quantity specified by its magnitude - a number and a unit.

Vector
A quantity specified by a magnitude and a direction.


Force
F = m X a or Force = mass X acceleration.

Radian
An angle of one radian subtended from the center of a unit circle produces an arc with arc length 1. Or in other words, a Radian cuts out a length of a circle's circumference equal to the radius. A right angle is π/2 radians, a straight angle is π radians and a full angle is 2π radians.

Steradian (stereos, greek 'solid', radius, Latin 'ray or beam')
The unit of solid angle. Cuts out an area of a sphere equal to radius².
The surface area of a sphere is 4πr².
The surface area of a steradian is r².

See 360° Circle

joule (J)
The work done by a force of one newton acting to move an object through a distance of one meter in the direction in which the force is applied or 1J = 1N·m Equivalently, since kinetic energy is one half the mass times the square of the velocity, one joule is the kinetic energy of a mass of two kilograms moving at a velocity of 1 m/s. 1 joule is the minimum amount of energy required to lift a one kilogram object up by a height of 10 centimeters on the surface of the Earth.

newton
The amount of net force required to accelerate a mass of one kilogram at a rate of one meter per second per second. 1N·m = 1J. On Earth's surface, a mass of 1 kg exerts a force of approximately 9.8 N

pascal
A measure of force per unit area: one newton per square metre. 1 hectopascal (hPa) = 100 Pa. 1 Kilopascal (kPa) ≡ 1000 Pa. Average sea-level pressure is 101.325 kPa (1013.25 mbar, or hPa) or 29.921 inches of mercury (inHg) or 760 millimeters (mmHg).

Trig Functions

• sin(θ) = opposite/hypotenuse, csc(θ) = hypotenuse/opposite
• cos(θ) = adjacent/hypotenuse, sec(θ) = hypotenuse/adjacent
• tan(θ) = opposite/adjacent, cot(θ) = adjacent/opposite

Greek Alphabet
Α α - Alpha
Β β - Beta
Γ γ - Gamma
Δ δ - Delta
Ε ε - Epsilon
Ζ ζ - Zeta
Η η - Eta
Θ θ - Theta
Ι ι - Iota
Κ κ - Kappa
Λ λ - Lambda
Μ μ - Mu
Ν ν - Nu
Ξ ξ - Xi
Ο ο - Omicron
Π π - Pi
Ρ ρ - Rho
σ ς - Sigma
Τ τ - Tau
Υ υ - Upsilon
Φ φ - Phi
Χ χ - Chi
Ψ ψ - Psi
Ω ω - Omega