Are you sure you don't mean furlongs? Farthing was a type of British coin.
9mm vs .45 Finally answered
- Thread starter Izzi115
- Start date
Are you sure you don't mean furlongs? Farthing was a type of British coin.
Shooter1of38
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I hope you are joking
Metric is a better system due to it's simplicity. unit of measurements should make sense and simple to use, i.e. water freezing point is 0C and boiling point is 100C, 1 calorie (the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1˚C)
, that's why all scientists(even US scientists) use the International System of Units (metric), because it's more simple, more accurate, more elegant.
Actually, the Sumerian/Babylonian system was base 3x4x5x6.
3x4=12.............hours in a day, hours in a night, eggs or donuts in a dozen
3x4x5=60..........seconds per minute, minutes per hour
3x4x5x6=360.....degrees in a circle, also days in a year (roughly)
Take this with a grain of salt -- it's not a recent archeological discovery, just a wild thought of mine.
When I decree the new laws and rules on whichever planet my followers settle, we will change to a base 12 system so we can divide by 3 and temperatures will be defined so that the triple-point of water equals 1728 degrees. For convenience, household thermometers will set so the triple-point is zero.
Oh yes, our calendar will start in the year zero at whatever date our ship first lands. I have not yet decided whether to begin the year at the northern winter solstice (as we kind of do here but we screwed it up) or at the mid-winter cross-quarter day (groundhog day).
What's that, Nurse? Yes, I did take my medications. Honest. The other patients are lying to you again because they're jealous of my intelligence, wealth, and beauty.
I hope you are joking
Metric is a better system due to it's simplicity. unit of measurements should make sense and simple to use, i.e. water freezing point is 0C and boiling point is 100C, 1 calorie (the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1˚C)
, that's why all scientists(even US scientists) use the International System of Units (metric), because it's more simple, more accurate, more elegant.
More simple without a doubt.
More elegant, perhaps.
More accurate, no. Accuracy is a function of measurement.
no quite a function, accuracy is the degree of which the result of measurement correlates a common standard. however, I get what you are saying, perhaps I should rephrase, it's easier to make accurate calculations using metric system due to it's simplicity.
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tactical lever
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Fox Creek, Alberta
Have never seen a reference for this ever. So you are saying that there is a difference of 2 millionths of a liter between the 2 measures. I do not see how this is possible, both considering that we used to be a British colony, and the difference could scarcely be measured at the time we became our own country.
I would chalk it up to an error in measurement.
Nonetheless I will take another look.
Cocked&Locked
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- S. Ontario
looks like the difference is that canada rounded to 5 decimal places and the uk went to 6......
Back when the government was selling the idea of abandoning Imperial, they actually said metric is more accurate. They lost me right there.
Also, with all due respect to other posters, using a cultural lack of proficiency in math is not an overwhelming reason to change measuring systems.
Looked at another way, measuring systems are categorically related to sales. People buy in weights and measures, for one thing. For another, specs and comparisons are used for selling. Adding confusion to the mix for the general population seems to move a bit of the advantage over to the sales side and away from the consumer side.
Finally, it has not worked. The last time I bought dimension lumber, it was 2x4s and 4x8s. Nominally. In fact, the 2x4s were not close.
Metric is nice. Imperial is nice. However, I am still waiting to see a compelling argument to prove one is the better choice.
Also, with all due respect to other posters, using a cultural lack of proficiency in math is not an overwhelming reason to change measuring systems.
Looked at another way, measuring systems are categorically related to sales. People buy in weights and measures, for one thing. For another, specs and comparisons are used for selling. Adding confusion to the mix for the general population seems to move a bit of the advantage over to the sales side and away from the consumer side.
Finally, it has not worked. The last time I bought dimension lumber, it was 2x4s and 4x8s. Nominally. In fact, the 2x4s were not close.
Metric is nice. Imperial is nice. However, I am still waiting to see a compelling argument to prove one is the better choice.
The switch to the ISO metric system was not just a measurement system change.
One area of change was to simplify things like the number of types and sizes of nuts and bolts.
The changes are very wide and comprehensive.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_metric_screw_thread
http://mdmetric.com/METRIC STANDARDS for Worldwide Manufacturing summaries.pdf
Another area
http://www.iso27001security.com/html/27004.html
Also try Googling ; " ISO metric standardization "
One area of change was to simplify things like the number of types and sizes of nuts and bolts.
The changes are very wide and comprehensive.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_metric_screw_thread
http://mdmetric.com/METRIC STANDARDS for Worldwide Manufacturing summaries.pdf
Another area
http://www.iso27001security.com/html/27004.html
Also try Googling ; " ISO metric standardization "
Right. But the question 50 years into the project: how is the "simplify" part working for us? Fewer nuts?
I could give you a simple example, I don't plan to change your mind, just to show you the benefits of simplicity in teaching kids maths with the metric system , they get less confused, not saying they won't, but less.
1 cubic meter of volume(1 meter x 1 meter x 1 meter)= 1000 liters, where as 7.48 gallons in one cubic foot.
if you ask a child how much water is in a tank with 5.4 meter x 1 meter x 1 meter internal dimension, it's easy for them to tell you that it can hold 5400 liters of water.
if these numbers were in feet, they will have to multiply 5.4 by 7.48 to get gallons, which is a extra step.
again lets ask how much energy it will take to heat this tank of water to boil at room temperature(let's say 20c) at sea level? it's simple, 100˚c-20˚c= 80˚c rise needed for the water to boil.
as I mentioned earlier, it takes 1 calorie to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1˚C. so 5400 liters of water = 5400 kg = 5,400,000 grams
5400000 x 80 = 432,000,000 calories
of course it could be easy for you too with imperial system if you knew all the conversions off by heart, but to teach them in class, metric is far superior.
Or just be a crazy mix of both like me!!
in the C or F scale, I know 100F is hot and 30F is cold, but the rest is a guess, tell me it is exactly 25C and I know i'm wearing shorts. But tell me to cook a pizza at 195C and Ican't tell you if I would have to stand by and watch it every min to make sure it dosn't burn or if it would take 3 hours to cook. But say 350F for 15 mins and I can go watch TV (crazy for sure since I can relate outside temp but not the temp of my oven!)
Next if I go to the Dr. and tell them I weigh 195, the need to check and figure out that in KG cause I don't know how much I weigh that way. Same as height I'm 5'7" no clue in cm!!
Speed I don`t know what 25mph is in Km`s or 50km per hour is in miles, but at 220Km per hour Tabernak i`m flying!! yet I know my 0-60mph in seconds! (ps its not fast maybe should time in minutes, see reason below)
25 cm of snow? well does that mean I have to get the kids ready for school, or do I sleep in? 12" of snow WOO HOO early weekend!! 12" something else hehehehe that would be great to show off!
Fuel mileage? I know my Hummer H2 is about 9, yet the wifes Jetta TDI is 55mpg. L/hour?? what?? (yep 9 miles per gallon, its a Hummer, but it does compensate for the missing inches above... kind of)
Yet I know I want 2L of pop or a 40oz of Jack... but is 24oz of pop good for a movie? I don't know
UGH can we just combine some of them for us mixed up ones?
in the C or F scale, I know 100F is hot and 30F is cold, but the rest is a guess, tell me it is exactly 25C and I know i'm wearing shorts. But tell me to cook a pizza at 195C and Ican't tell you if I would have to stand by and watch it every min to make sure it dosn't burn or if it would take 3 hours to cook. But say 350F for 15 mins and I can go watch TV (crazy for sure since I can relate outside temp but not the temp of my oven!)
Next if I go to the Dr. and tell them I weigh 195, the need to check and figure out that in KG cause I don't know how much I weigh that way. Same as height I'm 5'7" no clue in cm!!
Speed I don`t know what 25mph is in Km`s or 50km per hour is in miles, but at 220Km per hour Tabernak i`m flying!! yet I know my 0-60mph in seconds! (ps its not fast maybe should time in minutes, see reason below)
25 cm of snow? well does that mean I have to get the kids ready for school, or do I sleep in? 12" of snow WOO HOO early weekend!! 12" something else hehehehe that would be great to show off!
Fuel mileage? I know my Hummer H2 is about 9, yet the wifes Jetta TDI is 55mpg. L/hour?? what?? (yep 9 miles per gallon, its a Hummer, but it does compensate for the missing inches above... kind of)
Yet I know I want 2L of pop or a 40oz of Jack... but is 24oz of pop good for a movie? I don't know
UGH can we just combine some of them for us mixed up ones?
The reason we as Canadians are still using both systems is due to our relationship with the Americans. If we didn't do most of our business with them we wouldn't be as familiar with the Imperial system.
TW25B
As an Engineer who has worked extensively in both metric and imperial I make the following comments:
Every person I know who has converted fully to metric would never willingly go back to imperial.
The people who complain about metric are the ones who have never bothered to learn and use metric.
There are fewer errors when people use metric compared with imperial. While there are many who use imperial accurately and correctly it is more difficult and time consuming to learn everything you need in imperial and it is more time consuming to check and ensure accuracy.
The questions about dimensioning things is only a problem when you do hard conversions from imperial. In metric manufacturing typically moves to sensible dimensions over time. For example a steel column that is 6" square over time will become 150mm x 150mm not the hard conversion of 152 x 152.
Metric is not perfect but on the balance it is superior to imperial, you just have to get used to it.
Overall metric is better.
drum_boy101
CGN Regular
- Location
- Highland Valley, BC
This one had me cracking up, thanks for the smiles sclifford!
- Location
- Gibsons, BC
They're the same weight, but an ounce of gold weighs more than an ounce of feathers...
