General > General Technical Chat
why is the US not Metric
vk6zgo:
Sort of a "generic" comment on the "window blind" problem:-
Most people would measure the window opening with a tape measure, determine the gap they wanted, count back from the initial measurement twice, read the measurement off the tape & call it good,
Alternatively, because it is sometimes hard to get someone to hold the end of the tape, they might get a length of dowel curtain rod or similar, a bit longer than the window opening, push it up against the window frame(maybe securing it with tape), mark where it crossed the window frame at both ends.
Now determining the gap they require, using the tape measure, measure either twice that distance in from one end of the measuring rod, or the required gap in from each end, marking again.
Now, they can, at their leisure, determine the required blind width by measuring between the points marked on the rod in the last step.
No conversions, no calculations, system independent!
bsfeechannel:
--- Quote from: CatalinaWOW on November 06, 2019, 03:31:39 am ---The real question is why the rest of the world cares how the US goes about its business.
--- End quote ---
wraper has answered that question beautifully, but even if that were not the problem, this is a forum and what people do in forums is to discuss anything.
--- Quote ---It is worthwhile reading the Wikipedia (English) article on metrification. It may surprise many how far down the road the US is, and how widely traditional units survive in many "metric" countries.
--- End quote ---
Resistance is futile, imperial has been assimilated.
--- Quote ---The US specifies metric for military and space applications. The NASA contract specified metric.
--- End quote ---
This doesn't justify the US, because metrication there is not on par with the rest of the world, that uses metric for just about everything.
From the point of view of someone outside the US, what it seems is that the government tried to convince the people of the benefits of a modern system of units several times. But the people wouldn't listen, choosing to give ears to localism and other emotional arguments.
The government, the military and a significant portion of the industry said "Bugger that. We cannot heed that ignorant populace. We're ditching this imperial crap and changing to metric right away. We can't afford to lag behind the rest of the world."
So while you see this as a token of how very far the US have gone in the adoption of the metric system, the rest of the world sees how the government, the military and the industry disavow that lame choice of staying imperial.
Ιt is things like that that make the US an object of derision and contempt.
soldar:
--- Quote from: vk6zgo on November 06, 2019, 02:06:51 pm --- The metre used to be defined as a fraction of the circumference of the Earth at the Equatot, but that changed many years ago.
--- End quote ---
Not the circumference of the Earth at the equator but a meridian circle. One quadrant of the meridian was supposed to be about 40 million meters but I do not believe the meter was ever really defined that way. I believe it was defined by the metal rod which, in turn, was intended to be that fraction of the quadrant but I do not believe the quadrant was measured with enough precision to define the meter that way.
There was a lot of very interesting scientific expeditions in the 18th century for the purpose of measuring the length of the meridian circle.
richard.cs:
The cost consideration works both ways, not just that it's likely more expensive for Americans to buy stuff produced in lower volumes essentially just for them, but it also puts the rest of us off buying things you make.
I know on multiple occasions I have avoided buying something USA-made because I didn't want the hassle of having to find mating screws etc. locally. People not buying your stuff because they don't want the cost or hassle of finding 6-32 screws, UNEF bolts, oddball pipe threads, etc. limits your export market. And that's before we even get into overzealous export rules, between the two there are a lot of times when I just exclude US products from searches.
Tepe:
--- Quote from: soldar on November 06, 2019, 04:04:09 pm ---One quadrant of the meridian was supposed to be about 40 million meters
--- End quote ---
~40,000 km is the entire circumference.
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