| General > General Technical Chat |
| why is the US not Metric |
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| soldar:
--- Quote from: MagicSmoker on November 07, 2019, 10:23:15 am ---I didn't say Imperial was correct, I said it was what most Americans are likely to answer if you asked them what kind of measuring system they use. If they even know of a name in the first place, that is. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good and all that. --- End quote --- Oh, I agree with you that the average person in the street is quite ignorant and expresses themselves poorly. On the other hand, when talking in technical terms it is important to use the correct terms. This happens in every specialized field. In law, terms, crimes, etc. have very precise definitions but people use terms loosely and, very often, wrongly. |
| vk6zgo:
--- Quote from: Altair8800 on November 07, 2019, 06:09:37 am ---To our non-American friends... :) This is an example of what a typical American would and not know about our American Customary/Imperial measurment system. Most Americans would know the following: * there are 12 inches [in] in 1 foot [ft] * there are 3 feet [ft] in 1 yard [yd * there are 36 inches [in] 1 yard [yd * there are 2 half gallons in 1 gallon [gal * there are 4 quarts [qt] in 1 gallon [gal * there are 16 ounces [oz] in 1 pound [lbs] Some Americans might or might not know: * there are 3 teaspoons [tsp] in 1 tablespoon [tbsp] * there are 8 pints [pt] in 1 gallon [gal] * there is a Fluid Ounce [fl oz] and a Pound Force Ounce [oz] * there is 8 fluid ounces [fl oz] in 1 cup [cup] Most Americans would not know (without looking up): * there are 16 cups [cup] in 1 gallon [gal] * there are 128 fluid ounce [fl oz] in 1 gallon [gal] * there are 8.345 pounds [lb] in 1 gallon [gal] of water {or ~milk] * there are 1.04 ounce [oz] in 1 fluid ounce [fl oz] of water * there are 256 tablespoons [tbs] in 1 gallon [gal] * there are 16 tablespoons [tbs] in 1 cup * there are 231 cubic inches [in^3] in 1 gallon [gal] * there are 7.481 gallons in 1 cubic foot [ft^3] --- End quote --- * there are 5280 square feet [ft^2] in 1 mile [mi] Oops! Better get that editing pen out again! --- Quote --- * there are 43560 square feet [ft^2] in 1 acre * there are 1760 yards [yd] in 1 mile [mi] * there are two types of pounds, a pound mass (lbm) and a pound force(lbf) * there are 32.1740 pounds [lb] in 1 slug {used to define Pound Force} * there are 14 pounds [lb] in 1 stone [st] {used a lot in UK but almost all Americans do not know} * there are 42 gallons [gal] in 1 barrel {think oil or whiskey ;) } * 1 horsepower is amount of work to lift 550 pounds 1 foot up in 1 second {commonly used to discribe power} * that a USA cup can be either 8 fluid ounces OR 8.115 fluid ounces {think USA Legal cup is 240ml = 8.115 fl oz} --- End quote --- |
| boffin:
1 US Gal of 100LL weighs 6lbs; except I buy it in litres |
| Altair8800:
--- Quote from: boffin on November 07, 2019, 04:52:57 pm ---1 US Gal of 100LL weighs 6lbs; except I buy it in litres --- End quote --- In my previous list I was going to put... * there are 8.345 pounds [lb] in 1 gallon [gal] of water {or ~milk or ~gasoline] But then did a quick Wolfram Alpha search on density of gasoline to find to my surprise that gasoline is a good bit less dense than water. 726 kg/m^3 so I did not add the ~gasoline part Also FYI the density of milk is 1100 kg/m^3 and of course density of water is 1000 kg/m^3 |
| KL27x:
If the math is correct, it's almost as if units don't matter, as long as they are used, correctly. Weird how that works. It's almost as if the math is empirical and the units are simply a human-arbitrated point of calibration/reference. When we encounter aliens, we shall have to inform them their units of measurement are retarded and they should switch to metric. None of the non "American customary" units are in use, anymore, to my knowledge, other than troy oz's in the gold industry, definition of foot in land surveying, and pints in a british pub. But if anyone wants to add something that isn't ancient history, feel free to show us where Americans are using slugs and stones and confusing tower oz and imperial gallons. There are probably "old units" used in farming still, in many countries for estimating weight of stuff in the field. But that is not anyone's concern other than the farmer. Let's correct the direction of conventional current while we're at it. |
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