Should the whole world follow 1 unit of measurement?
129 replies, posted
I find them very convenient. "A foot" is quicker than "one third of a meter", "2 inches" is quicker than "5 centimeters".
Besides, we're talking about going to metric from the current system, so while it maybe be to you, it wouldn't be inconvenient to us.
That's the most bullshit I've ever heard.. I can understand being used to it, I can understand finding it easier to guess with (which isn't true, it's just as easy for me to guess how long something is), but using it because it's 1/10th of a second shorter to say? Okay :rolleyes:
[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;35566062]I think that, officially, things should be standardised. However, the convenience of inches, feet, etc is just too great to drop.[/QUOTE]
I think the best way is to officially ignore the existence of all other measurement systems from Metric, and use metric for all measurements in trade, government, education, etc.
That way the only way Imperial can survive is on the parent teaching it to their children, and inevitably within a century it will rapidly die out and the whole world will standardise.
[QUOTE=Uber|nooB;35533407]It'd be great if everyone followed the SI system.
However, despite having grown up with metric units, after living in the UK for half my life I'd say some imperial units would be nice to partially retain in certain contexts, e.g. a pint of beer just sounds better than five hundred millilitres or half a litre of beer.[/QUOTE]
Things you're used to almost always sound better. To me half a liter sounds better than a pint, height of 1.8m or 180cm sounds better than whatever feet. All because I am more used to that. Also kg sounds better than pound or stone or whatever.
So yeah, what you're used to sounds better most of the time which is common sense.
[QUOTE=AceOfDivine;35571264]Things you're used to almost always sound better. To me half a liter sounds better than a pint, height of 1.8m or 180cm sounds better than whatever feet. All because I am more used to that. Also kg sounds better than pound or stone or whatever.
So yeah, what you're used to sounds better most of the time which is common sense.[/QUOTE]
But what I'm saying is that I've grown up with metric units, and always use metric units. But in the very narrow context of lager I prefer a pint as a measurement, since it gives a convenient physical amount with a unity value :v:
[editline]14th April 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=danharibo;35566000]I mean what is the point in being able to easily communicate measurements you make with others?[/QUOTE]
You're kidding, right?
[QUOTE=mobrockers2;35567499]That's the most bullshit I've ever heard.. I can understand being used to it, I can understand finding it easier to guess with (which isn't true, it's just as easy for me to guess how long something is), but using it because it's 1/10th of a second shorter to say? Okay :rolleyes:[/QUOTE]
This, and Imperial gives rough estimates. I can say 2 and a half inches and you'll know almost how long,, but if I say 6.25 cm you know exactly how long.
Precision > Convenience.
That would be like changing the whole world to speak just one language, it would be great, but just not possable
[QUOTE=Maucer;35494893][IMG]http://www.guzer.com/pictures/countries-using-metric-system.jpg[/IMG]
[/QUOTE]
The US is only using imperial because almost all of our manufacturing companies use it. They account for loads of our monies and most (if not all) of their processes use imperial. I do agree that the switch is very necessary, as our units are outdated and vary too much to be easily used in synergy, but the system is deep rooted. The only feasible way to switch would be to replace imperial machines with metric ones as the former broke, and still it would be a massive undertaking. Not to mention getting the people here to use the new measurements.
Oh, I almost forgot about the infrastructure. That would be [b]a lot[/b] of road signs/water meters/everything else to change.
There's my two cents on getting a conversion to happen, or me whining about the work that would have to be done, depending on your opinion. I'm for learning centigrade/meters/kilograms, as they make more than a tiny grain of sense.
[QUOTE=Krinkels;35287189]I don't think any country has entirely switched over to the metric system.
Weight isn't measured in Newtons. Pounds are typically used instead.
Height isn't measured in centimetres. At least, I would be surprised if one were to consider oneself 175cm.
Power isn't always measured in Watts. Cars have horsepower and food has Calories.
Volume isn't always measured in Litres. Oil comes in barrels.
Pressure isn't always measured in Pascals. Blood is measured in mmHg and air in atm.
Angles can be measured in three units, as can temperature.
If the world is to conform to the metric system, you yourself would be inconvenienced by the imposition of new units and you'd end up learning new measurements.[/QUOTE]
In germany we pretty much use 99% metric system (even in daily life)
We DO use grams for weight (and kg, mg, ...) (newton is force, not weight)
We DO use meters for height (and for everything else considering distances)
For food we normally use Calories and kJoule.
About power: We do use watts, even for cars. Even though most people still use Horse Power, all car sellers HAVE to write down the numbers in Kilowatts.
We measure Volume in m^3 (cubic meters) or litres for pretty much everything. Water bottles, gasoline, the amount of water in loch ness.
No idea about pressure to be honest...
For temperature we use celsius and in science class we sometimes used kelvin (which is just shifted). No fahrenheit here.
I don't understand when people say that metrics are strange for everyday life.
It's totally established here and I was raised with it.
I totally can imagine if someone says the lenght of a stick is 67cm or 2,50m.
You can get just as familiar to metric units as to every other unit. Also, they make fucking sense!
[QUOTE=chazzball;35585842]That would be like changing the whole world to speak just one language, it would be great, but just not possable[/QUOTE]
Hey at least these days everyone can speak english or some of it. So we close to that.
Yes. The whole world should use Planck units. If the most common complaint concerning Imperial is that it's arbitrary, Planck units are the obvious choice. They're defined by setting the speed of light, the gravitational constant, the reduced Planck constant, the Boltzmann constant, and the Coulomb constant equal to 1. Don't get much more fundamental than that.
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;35599793]Yes. The whole world should use Planck units. If the most common complaint concerning Imperial is that it's arbitrary, Planck units are the obvious choice. They're defined by setting the speed of light, the gravitational constant, the reduced Planck constant, the Boltzmann constant, and the Coulomb constant equal to 1. Don't get much more fundamental than that.[/QUOTE]
Seems logical.
I am 1.10011205 x 10^35 ħ in height.
[QUOTE=Disco_Potato;35600205]Seems logical.
I am 1.10011205 x 10^35 ħ in height.[/QUOTE]
or 110011205000 yotta-plancks
[QUOTE=Disco_Potato;35600205]Seems logical.
I am 1.10011205 x 10^35 ħ in height.[/QUOTE]
Your height is measured in mass*length^2/time?
[QUOTE=Aerkhan;35525649]Yes, Metric is way easier, accurate and overall better.
Imperial gives you a "rough" estimate, Metric gives you the exact size, length and such.[/QUOTE]
How does imperial give you a "rough" estimate while metric doesn't?
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;35599793]Yes. The whole world should use Planck units. If the most common complaint concerning Imperial is that it's arbitrary, Planck units are the obvious choice. They're defined by setting the speed of light, the gravitational constant, the reduced Planck constant, the Boltzmann constant, and the Coulomb constant equal to 1. Don't get much more fundamental than that.[/QUOTE]
Except of course that the general public doesn't know what a Planck unit is.
[QUOTE=Krinkels;35287189]I don't think any country has entirely switched over to the metric system.
Weight isn't measured in Newtons. Pounds are typically used instead.
Height isn't measured in centimetres. At least, I would be surprised if one were to consider oneself 175cm.
Power isn't always measured in Watts. Cars have horsepower and food has Calories.
Volume isn't always measured in Litres. Oil comes in barrels.
Pressure isn't always measured in Pascals. Blood is measured in mmHg and air in atm.
Angles can be measured in three units, as can temperature.
If the world is to conform to the metric system, you yourself would be inconvenienced by the imposition of new units and you'd end up learning new measurements.[/QUOTE]
That's because not every person has a scientific education background.
The thing with metric, however, is it's much more precise because it's not based off of something arbitrary, like 'a foot'.
Watt and horsepower - same thing - it's just that you associate horsepower with vehicles.
Pound is used in imperial measurement countries. You don't use the pound in Europe if we forget the UK for a moment.
Etc.
[QUOTE=Rad McCool;35626757]How does imperial give you a "rough" estimate while metric doesn't?[/QUOTE]
Well, technically as long as you measure things correctly, it wouldn't be a rough estimate.
Although, what happens when you have something that is 1/7[SUP]th[/SUP] of an inch? Is there a name for anything smaller than an inch?
In metric systems when something is smaller than a centimeter we just continue to use smaller measurements.
Millimeter, micrometer, nanometer... (don't know what comes after that, but I know we have smaller measurements than that.
I imagine it's a pain for American science students to factor back and forth between metric and imperial, which I believe is what you do, unless you for some obscure reason don't use SI-units.
[editline]19th April 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=eternalflamez;35633534]Well, technically as long as you measure things correctly, it wouldn't be a rough estimate.
Although, what happens when you have something that is 1/7[SUP]th[/SUP] of an inch? Is there a name for anything smaller than an inch?
In metric systems when something is smaller than a centimeter we just continue to use smaller measurements.
Millimeter, micrometer, nanometer... (don't know what comes after that, but I know we have smaller measurements than that.[/QUOTE]
Exactly. For example an eighth of an inch is not accurate at all.
[QUOTE=Within;35633527]That's because not every person has a scientific education background.
The thing with metric, however, is it's much more precise because it's not based off of something arbitrary, like 'a foot'.
Watt and horsepower - same thing - it's just that you associate horsepower with vehicles.
Pound is used in imperial measurement countries. You don't use the pound in Europe if we forget the UK for a moment.
Etc.[/QUOTE]
This is true. We use kilos, meters, liters, (or m[sup]3[/sup]), Watts for anything but food, not sure about pressure, we measure angles in either an amount of pi or degrees, and Celsius for temperatures, and Kelvin for scientific measurements, although not always and it's just the same value -273.
[editline]19th April 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=Within;35633543]I imagine it's a pain for American science students to factor back and forth between metric and imperial, which I believe is what you do, unless you for some obscure reason don't use SI-units.
[editline]19th April 2012[/editline]
Exactly. For example an eighth of an inch is not accurate at all.[/QUOTE]
I imagine it being hard for an American to just stay in Imperial, switching back and forth between feet/inches/miles is hard.
[editline]19th April 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=Within;35633543]Exactly. For example an eighth of an inch is not accurate at all.[/QUOTE]
You know, I wonder how they measure an eighth of an inch? Just measure and then say, this is probably an eighth or something of an inch?
[QUOTE=Rad McCool;35626757]How does imperial give you a "rough" estimate while metric doesn't?[/QUOTE]
"Yeah that bloke was 6 foot 4, what ya think?"
"Tall cunt!"
or
"Yeah that bloke was 190 centimetres, what ya think?"
"How fucking tall is that?"
Australia officially uses metric and has for the past few decades, but honestly imperial at times can be better just to get an idea of things. I've never heard someone refer to a person's height in metric at all. Say that someone is certain feet and inches high and everyone will know what you mean.
[QUOTE=Antdawg;35633640]"Yeah that bloke was 6 foot 4, what ya think?"
"Tall cunt!"
or
"Yeah that bloke was 190 centimetres, what ya think?"
"How fucking tall is that?"
Australia officially uses metric and has for the past few decades, but honestly imperial at times can be better just to get an idea of things. I've never heard someone refer to a person's height in metric at all. Say that someone is certain feet and inches high and everyone will know what you mean.[/QUOTE]
Oh, in Europe we measure peoples' height in meters anyway. I'm 1.86. It's even on my ID.
[QUOTE=eternalflamez;35633700]Oh, in Europe we measure peoples' height in meters anyway. I'm 1.86. It's even on my ID.[/QUOTE]
Everything official is in metric here, if I had to have my height measured for something it would be done so in metres. Only times Imperial is ever used is in day-to-day shit, even then it would just be lengths or distances. For example no one dares use Fahrenheit because it is too impractical, and litres are good enough for liquid volumes. However, it is interesting to note that many tools are still being made which feature both metric and imperial measurements (eg we have a rather new set of spanners, where half of them have imperial diameters and the other half have metric diameters). I suppose this is done for dealing with anything that has come out of the United States and found its way here really.
[QUOTE=Antdawg;35633873]Everything official is in metric here, if I had to have my height measured for something it would be done so in metres. Only times Imperial is ever used is in day-to-day shit, even then it would just be lengths or distances. For example no one dares use Fahrenheit because it is too impractical, and litres are good enough for liquid volumes. However, it is interesting to note that many tools are still being made which feature both metric and imperial measurements (eg we have a rather new set of spanners, where half of them have imperial diameters and the other half have metric diameters). I suppose this is done for dealing with anything that has come out of the United States and found its way here really.[/QUOTE]
Yes that does seem logical to me. I'm from the Netherlands and we (almost) never use Imperial.
Only times we use it is when, say, I buy meat, then I'll ask for pounds, ounces, or kilos, instead of saying 0.3 kilo I'd ask for 3 ounces.
We too, never use Fahrenheit, I don't even know why it's logical to use. (Then again, it's not what I'm used to)
[editline]19th April 2012[/editline]
Whoop, spamming thread, I'll be back when you need me.
I think that it would make things quite a lot easier. Using time as a basis, there is no real confusion about the units of time is there? Everyone knows how long a second is, and everyone knows how many are in a minute, and so on. I think that since it worked so well for time, why wouldn't it for anything else?
[QUOTE=Antdawg;35633640]"Yeah that bloke was 6 foot 4, what ya think?"
"Tall cunt!"
or
"Yeah that bloke was 190 centimetres, what ya think?"
"How fucking tall is that?"
Australia officially uses metric and has for the past few decades, but honestly imperial at times can be better just to get an idea of things. I've never heard someone refer to a person's height in metric at all. Say that someone is certain feet and inches high and everyone will know what you mean.[/QUOTE]
If somebody says "Yeah that bloke was 190 (centimeters, we usually omit that), what ya think?", I get quite a good idea about how tall he is.
We also don't say 'one hundred and ninety', we say 'one ninety'.
[QUOTE=Antdawg;35633640]"Yeah that bloke was 6 foot 4, what ya think?"
"How fucking tall is that?"
or
"Yeah that bloke was 190 centimetres, what ya think?"
"Tall cunt!"[/QUOTE]
Fixed that for the rest of the world.
[editline]19th April 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=eternalflamez;35633534]Well, technically as long as you measure things correctly, it wouldn't be a rough estimate.
Although, what happens when you have something that is 1/7[SUP]th[/SUP] of an inch? Is there a name for anything smaller than an inch?[/QUOTE]
Imperial ruler:
[img]http://www.admagic.com/architectural_ruler_6_inch.jpg[/img]
Seems to be more precise than a metric one imo.
[QUOTE=Rad McCool;35634532]Fixed that for the rest of the world.[/QUOTE]
This is correct. We have some sense of how large a foot is though.
And imo metric system is just alot easier. You found a weird ass ruler, the one that looks like the metric one says it's made in the USA.
Btw this is what we used in most of our high school:
[t]http://i.imgur.com/jnbIM.jpg[/t]
Top side has measurement in cm/mm, the rest is used to figure out how much degrees an angle is at.
[editline]19th April 2012[/editline]
And to draw symmetrical lines aswell, in the middle... But that's not really on-topic.
[QUOTE=Rad McCool;35634532]Fixed that for the rest of the world.
[editline]19th April 2012[/editline]
Imperial ruler:
[img]http://www.admagic.com/architectural_ruler_6_inch.jpg[/img]
Seems to be more precise than a metric one imo.[/QUOTE]
[img]http://iruler.net/ruler_0_10.jpg[/img]
Yes, imperial is so much more precise.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.