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| why is the US not Metric |
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| mansaxel:
--- Quote from: SL4P on November 02, 2019, 06:15:44 pm ---In the US, they have to retain Imperial measures, so they can measure their soft drink bottles and ammunition! How the 7.62 and 9mm got through I can’t imagine! Maybe they snuck in after WW2 --- End quote --- 7.62mm is .300", so it's probably one of those NATOisms. <tangent type="Tools are just another branch of T.E.A"> One of my best sources of AF spanners is Bundeswehr surplus, who, because they bought so much US military hardware, had to get tools for it, and why should the country where Stahlwille, Gedore, Belzer, Elora, Hazet, Wera and WiHa are sited (to this day with manufacturing in-country) buy overpriced Crap-On as an extra insult? The German tools are so much better. Even in imperial sizes :-DD </tangent> Edit: but the big soda bottles are in metric! |
| Monkeh:
--- Quote from: Cerebus on November 02, 2019, 05:19:10 pm ---PC cases typically use both M3 and 4/20 UNC threads at the same time - M3 for the baseboard standoffs, 4/20 UNC for most other things. An M3 screw will start to fit a 4/20 UNC tapped hole and then jam, a 4/20 UNC screw will fit an M3 tapped hole so that it won't pull straight out, but also so that it won't tighten. --- End quote --- 6-32 UNC and M3, actually. Generally 6-32 for the motherboard standoffs (but occasionally M3..), expansion cards, also 3.5" HDDs. 2.5" HDDs, 3.5" floppies, and 5.25" optical drives are M3. Standard D-shell connectors for VGA, DVI, serial, and good old gameport, are 4-40. At least get your facts straight. :) |
| KL27x:
--- Quote --- Do cooks resort to scales or balances for these? --- End quote --- Yes, that is weird to imagine, weighing all your ingredients to the gram, lol. --- Quote ---In the US, they have to retain Imperial measures, so they can measure their soft drink bottles and ammunition! --- End quote --- Most Americans don't have any problem using mL and L. Soda has been sold in 1, 2, and 3L bottles since... well, ever since they stopped selling them in glass bottles. I often think in metric for volumes and it's probably because of soft drink bottles. Also, because "fluid oz" doesn't flow off the tongue. Anything other than cups and pints and gallons, I typically think and express in metric. Also fun fact: our small plastic bottle of soda are often listed in mL and oz. So we have 12.7 oz bottle of soda or 375mL. Obviously same bottles for the rest of the world just labeled for US. I often use mm where 1 or 2 is the size I'm trying to express. But to me, 40mm x 120mm is still not automatic to visualize. 4'11" 1/16" and 3/8" from either side? That's 3/4" you want to subtract. 11 minus 3/4 is 10 1/4. Add 1/16, and you get 4'10" 5/16, and it's pretty automatic if you do this more than once a year. We learn fractions in grade school, but unless you actually use this skill, you will forget how to do it in your head. Someone said that "metric is the ideal measuring system" or something to that effect. The ideal measuring system depends on the application. For crude oil, it's barrels. 55 gallons to a barrel. Or do you want to count the barrels coming off the ship and then multiply by 208.2 to get liters to see if you got what you ordered? |
| Cerebus:
--- Quote from: Monkeh on November 02, 2019, 06:33:59 pm --- --- Quote from: Cerebus on November 02, 2019, 05:19:10 pm ---PC cases typically use both M3 and 4/20 UNC threads at the same time - M3 for the baseboard standoffs, 4/20 UNC for most other things. An M3 screw will start to fit a 4/20 UNC tapped hole and then jam, a 4/20 UNC screw will fit an M3 tapped hole so that it won't pull straight out, but also so that it won't tighten. --- End quote --- 6-32 UNC and M3, actually. Generally 6-32 for the motherboard standoffs (but occasionally M3..), expansion cards, also 3.5" HDDs. 2.5" HDDs, 3.5" floppies, and 5.25" optical drives are M3. Standard D-shell connectors for VGA, DVI, serial, and good old gameport, are 4-40. At least get your facts straight. :) --- End quote --- Kind of reinforces my point about checking three times on imperial connector sizes - I could have walked across the room and pulled out the (labelled) packet of spare screws and checked the actual designation. I didn't and consequently I'm screwed (pun intentional). On the other hand the simple straightforward metric designation of M3 came straight to mind and was correct whereas the imperial was misremembered. |
| bsfeechannel:
--- Quote from: Cerebus on November 02, 2019, 05:19:10 pm ---No, imperial can't shoulder the blame here for any error proneness. You made errors in your imperial to metric conversion, understanding the question and not noticing that you had a clear "blind longer than window recess" result. Nothing to do with imperial, all your errors where made in the conversion/problem domain. I think anyone who deliberately chooses imperial if they have a choice of using metric is crazy but you clearly demonstrate that understanding and manipulating the problem is much more important than they units you use to express it in. --- End quote --- My errors are irrelevant. For the record, I know darn well that 3/8" is half a bee's prick from 1cm, i.e. 10mm. I have imperial drill bits, nuts and bolts galore in my shop. And none of my blinds are in recessed windows. What I wanted to show and you demonstrated quite well is that you have to perform additional number base conversions to calculate what you want, even without the conversion to metric. Metric doesn't demand that. So yes, imperial is to be blamed for errors. --- Quote ---I'm lucky, I was educated in an era when the UK was actively using both imperial and metric units so I have no difficulty in thinking in either, although I'll pick metric if I have a choice. It also means that I'm primed to immediately notice that your "3/8" is approximately 10 cm" was off - I instinctively know how big 3/8" and 10cm are. --- End quote --- I too received education in the imperial system. But since I don't use it much these days, I confess that I am a little rusty on the use of such units. --- Quote ---I think it's fairly safe to assume that you're 'metric to the core' and so just don't have the instinctive grasp of imperial units that would allow you to immediately spot you'd made a gross error. --- End quote --- I'm trying to wipe imperial out of my brain. Just that. Every time I bump into it, it's a WOMBAT. --- Quote ---Thus I think one ought to be very, very careful if forced to work in an unfamiliar unit system. I suspect an 'imperial to the core' American engineer might be prone to just the same errors as you if working the other way around. --- End quote --- I doubt it. The farad, the ohm, the ampere, the volt, the henry, the watt, etc. are all metric units. And no "imperial to the core" engineer complains about those. --- Quote ---What I'll never do is mix the two systems of units in the same job. --- End quote --- Good advice. That's what we are trying to show to the "imperial to the core" guys. Since we realized that all units are interconnected somehow, there's no point in using two systems: V = kg · m²/(C · s²) but feet, pounds and gallons. |
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