Imperial or Metric system?

[phoneyLogic]

I think the usage of one system is mandatory in an economy. Well all the countries in the Eropean Union decided to join one market so it's just plain obvious to have a common measure system. It's just way more clear and simple that way. So you can drive freely around without the need of taking too much efford in calculating weights and prices. Even some classified goods are quite convenient if you are standing in an foreign market. That's quite cool and the metric system is fine enough. It's based on round numbers and it's easy to deal with it...

Its used in round about 190 countries all over the world...

[JimboUK]

Wonder if we'd still talk about the outdated imperial system if only Liberia is left...

Guess not. And precisely that is the point.

 

How is it outdated? it's still used by millions of people and not just those in the US, UK and Liberia.

[Marthos]

Why does this appear to be so hard for some to understand ?

 

Metric or Imperial are measurement units, we get by quite happily using both.

 

When we need to use Metric we do so.

 

When we "want" to use Imperial, we can.

 

One isnt better than the other at doing its job, either will tell you how long, short or heavy something is, so comments like "Metric is better" just states that the person making the comment prefers metric.

 

Folk in the UK aren't trying to push Imperial on anybody else so why the need to pass a law that says "YOU WILL USE METRIC" when we are fluent in both ?

 

 

Its our "choice" to use which measurement system we want to and I don't see why anybody should have the right to take that away from us.

[phoneyLogic]

Metric or Imperial are measurement units, we get by quite happily using both.

You are already metric. :biggrin:

But it's not like the English are the only ones which have older measures.In Germany we have such older measures and units as well, guess like every country. And of cause we use some of them until today (e.g. pounds are used for bread, but grams or kilo are written). We even had inches, miles and feet. But most of them are not longer ine use except inches for bikes and tv for example. My own grandfather had a bunch of non metric measures. But hey, if I think about using them today, this just feels sooo outdated and oldfashioned... ^^. And from what I have seen, it's more complicated to work with the imperial system.

http://ts.nist.gov/WeightsAndMeasures/Publications/upload/h4402_appenc.pdf

Don't tell me that you are really fluently in both. So what are 3 cubic feet in liters? :huh:

(without looking)

 

Not everyone is being shot on sight just for thinking the wrong direction. This would be half the truth. These laws for metric usage are made for the industries, sience, markets, merchants, goods and packaging and so on to make things easier. Well at least for you and me.

Folk in the UK aren't trying to push Imperial on anybody else so why the need to pass a law that says "YOU WILL USE METRIC" when we are fluent in both ?

Despite of having old measures and units - who seriously wants to be bothered with them if you are not English?

[Marthos]

I said, "Metric or Imperial are measurement units, we get by quite happily using both.".

 

You said "You are already metric".

 

Well obviously, or we wouldn't be fluent in both would we?

 

 

No I don't know what 3 cubic feet are in litres without looking, after looking I can tell you that 3 (cubic feet) = 84.9505398 litres.

 

And thats the point, I can look and find the answer, took me ten seconds, dont tell me you can work out every metric equation on the planet without having to look something up.

 

I know that these laws are made for industry and comercial sectors etc, do you think that doesn't knock on to the average Joe in the street?

 

Once again, its about choice, I choose to use Imperial because I want to, works for me and many people I know and deal with, when I need to I use Metric to suit the needs of others, I do so, whats the problem with that ?

 

 

You also stated,

 

"Despite of having old measures and units - who seriously wants to be bothered with them if you are not English?".

 

I think you haven't been paying attention, Imperial isnt being pushed on anybody else, so that statement is rather irrelevant.

[phoneyLogic]

And thats the point' date=' I can look and find the answer, took me ten seconds, dont tell me you can work out every metric equation on the planet without having to look something up.[/quote']The point is that one common system is used in 190 countries (England as well) all over the world and this is why we all are that comfortable and happy with. Dealing with goods would be a huuuge pita. Not only because you have them to buy, but also because you have to transport them and so on

And despite of rules or law which may force people into a metric systen, they still are free to use every measures they like in private. They don't die or sth, the metric system has advantages.

 

If you ask me *imperial or metric*, I'd say metric. And I wouldn't ever use a such a strange unit like cubic feet or sth

 

Btw: I calculated

3 cubic feed = 84,95055 liter

 

yours was 84.9505398

 

after my list 1 cubic food is 23.31685 liter ^^

I guess, the lists or the rounding might be the difficulty.

[Vagrant0]

At any rate, it won't be done any time soon simply because the construction, and manufacturing sectors of the US economy hate the idea, and have so far prevented all attempts at converting it. Building codes and the materials used are all in nice, round, easy to remember, imperial measures, and that's just how they like it.

[Marthos]

Your not getting my point.

 

Our use of Imperial doesnt cause any problems for anybody else as we can quite happily use Metric when dealing with people like yourself who are used to Metric only, Theres no pita for anybody.

 

What is so hard to understand about that statement ?

 

Just because I prefer to use Imperial doesn't mean I'm trying to make you or anybody else use it.

 

Btw

 

3 cubic feet in litres still comes to 84.9505398 litres

 

 

A useful website for you.

 

http://www.lenntech.com/calculators/volume/volume.htm

[Vagrant0]

Your not getting my point.

 

Our use of Imperial doesnt cause any problems for anybody else as we can quite happily use Metric when dealing with people like yourself who are used to Metric only, Theres no pita for anybody.

 

What is so hard to understand about that statement ?

 

Just because I prefer to use Imperial doesn't mean I'm trying to make you or anybody else use it.

 

Btw

 

3 cubic feet in litres still comes to 84.9505398 litres

 

 

A useful website for you.

 

http://www.lenntech.com/calculators/volume/volume.htm

While true, it does create certain issues when you have a product design in one standard and need to convert everything to another standard while maintaining various production tolerances. On one end, you have persons who are already familiar with a system that they've used for generations, on the other you have a growing need for a global standard of weight and measure. Beyond the whole aspect of tradition and the difficulty in converting, there is no reason not to switch to a single standard, especially when so many things are produced in one country, and sent to another.

 

The primary advantage with metric as opposed to imperial is that units for dimensions can be converted directly into units for volume without some goofy formula or having to convert things back and forth. Now, again, determining the volume or surface area of a room may not seem that important to the average person, for those who design and build those rooms, it becomes rather important when doing things like determining optimal sizes for windows, ventilation systems, or brightness and type of light fixtures. You may not live in a world where precision is particularly important, but there are those who have professions which demand it quite heavily, and telling someone to manufacture a part that has a 4 7/8 inch diameter to a tolerance of less than 1/128 inch, the conversion to metric adds a bunch of decimals; which in turn usually gets rounded out during conversion or end up cluttering the plan with extra text, and as a result, the part made in metric won't fit into the appropriate spot when used in a case where all other parts are imperial. And even if the whole product is converted to metric, parts of that product won't fit together properly due to various things being rounded up or down during conversion, or the tolerances being slightly more or less than what was specified. And, incase you were wondering, 1/128 of an inch is actually a rather liberal tolerance when dealing with milled components. Depending on the grade of steel, it can often get well beyond 1/1000 of an inch tolerance between a part which fits and one which does not. Now, as I might have lost you in some of this, the point is that in having to convert from imperial to metric or metric to imperial, you pretty much have to re-design all components which are being manufactured so that the tolerances and sizes of things are practical for that given standard. And without that re-designing or consensus on units of measure, products which are comprised of parts made in various countries with various standards will end up with parts which do not rightly fit together or function in the same exact way.

[Marthos]

Well said Vagrant and perfectly well put.

 

One thing that your well informed post brought to the fore is the fact that there are still hundreds? thousands? hundreds of thousands of business's out there that are still tooled up with Imperial measured machinery, can you imagine the cost of replacing / converting all that if some law is passed saying it can no longer be used, or what percentage of those business's would survive?

 

Dont forget, theres more than one Imperial, you've got AF (American Fine), NPT (National Pipe Thread), BSP BSPP BSPT (British Standard Pipe / standard / parallel / tapered), BA (British Association Imperial), NPTF (National Pipe Thread "Fuel"), UNF (Unified Fine), UNC (Unified Coarse) and Whitworth Imperial just to mention a few.

 

Also, in some industries Americans decimilised Imperial measures after the point, so you would get a measurement of say, 2.75 inches rather than 2 and three quarter inches, they did this as the programs used to control computer driven machinery could understand the fractional measurements, ie: 3/4 3/16 etc, they could process the whole units so a decimilisation of Imperial was used, ie as mention before, 2.75 inch etc.

 

Sounds like a difficult system and it is but its still in use today, and theres another 50 or so or even more that I dont know about, all of them imperial measurements still used in industries today.

 

 

Total converstion to Metric in every industry and sector would beggar global economy and take generations to impliment and some Eurotwit MP is worried about eggs and balls of wool and a bag of sweet peanuts being sold by the gram :rolleyes: