General > General Technical Chat

why is the US not Metric

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KL27x:
^True.
The astronauts used imperial, exclusively.
The instruments read out in english units. They did calculations in english units. They input english units into the computer.

Mission Control used both units for various things.

The computer code used metric, internally.

And 30 years later, during the Mars Orbiter mission, the reverse happened. JPL was using software that used english units and failed to convert them into metric. English units are still used in airplaney things, apparently, to this day.

All this time imperial and metric have both been used by NASA, and I have no reason to think that has changed. Either system is just a tool and converting between them is not black magic. It is black and white. If NASA rocket scientists find occasion where it's convenient to use english units, then I reckon they will.


--- Quote ---I was referring to manufactured components for an international cooperation that were supposed to fit together but didn't
--- End quote ---
Changing road signs is neither here nor there and the road signs are the only major thing that "going metric" will change. The conversion of metric dimensions to imperial by machine shops will continue to happen because the machines are threaded in imperial. And mistakes will still occasionally occur. C'est la vie, right?  :-//

Tepe:

--- Quote from: KL27x on November 20, 2019, 03:51:00 am ---English units are still used in airplaney things, apparently, to this day.

--- End quote ---
Wasn't always like that:

HighVoltage:
When I moved to the USA in the late 80s I met a really nice mechanical engineer and when I told him that I had worked for a big German car manufacturer as an engineer, he asked me:

"Are they really using metric dimensions to design and build engines in Germany?"

And when I replied with yes, he would not believe me.
In his mind, an engine could only be built "correctly" by using imperial units.

vk6zgo:

--- Quote from: Cubdriver on November 19, 2019, 09:52:28 am ---
--- Quote from: vk6zgo on November 19, 2019, 09:24:06 am ---
--- Quote from: Cubdriver on November 19, 2019, 05:50:34 am ---
--- Quote from: bsfeechannel on November 19, 2019, 03:40:30 am ---

--- Quote from: forrestc on November 15, 2019, 11:50:57 pm ---What is the exact economic benefit of changing the units we measure our roads by from miles to km?   

--- End quote ---

I'll invert the question. What exact economic benefit did all other countries in the world see in measuring their roads in km instead of miles? Did they think they'd save on tires or fuel with that change?

--- End quote ---

Sorry, it doesn't work that way.  You're trying to convince us to spend unknown (but surely ridiculous) amounts of money to replace every sign that indicates a speed or a distance, on every road in the entire United States.
--- End quote ---
I bet you that when you change a speed limit, you don't replace the whole sign, but instead just stick a new number over the old one.
1974 is a long time ago, & from memory, I think that was done in Oz, but maybe reflective stickers weren't quite up to it then,----we might have just replaced the oldest signs first, then progressively completed the others over years.
In any case, stickers is how you would do it now.

Another clever trick was to change each 5 mile increment of mileposts to an 8km increment, & remove the numbers from those in between.
People realised after a while that they didn't need posts every mile (or km).
We had those funny 8km posts for many years after '74.

--- Quote ---
 [ I don't need to justify NOT doing it, YOU need to convince me why we should.  All the drivers here think in miles and feet.  Speedometers are primarily marked in miles per hour. Odometers register miles, not km. In addition to replacing all the signage, do you suggest that everyone get their odometers replaced?  Re-gearing them won't work as that will bugger up the speed indication.  (Not that re-gearing them is really any more sensible)

--- End quote ---

Most people would do what we did in Australia----do a quick correction in their heads.
35 mph is fractionally less than 60kmh, 50mph is pretty much spot on 80kmh, 55mph is just a bit less than 90kmh, 60mph is just a fraction under 100kmh, & 65mph is just a fraction under 110kmh.

The nearest Metric speed to the existing Imperial ones was chosen in each case, so drivers of cars with "legacy" speedos would still be able to drive within the limits.

A few people bought new "stick on" labels to fit into their speedos, others bought gadgets to gear the whole thing up, but the latter weren't at all satisfactory, as the higher speeds were now all crushed up at the end of the scale.
As I said, above, most people didn't have to do anything, so they didn't.

--- Quote ---
Granted in many newer vehicles with electronic indicators it may just be a code change, but it's still a trip in for an otherwise unnecessary service, and there are more than 270 million cars in the US.  Do you expect every driver to pay an additional $50+ dollars per vehicle to get this done, too? 

--- End quote ---

--- End quote ---

Well, you've suggested a slightly lower cost 'how'.  I still fail to see WHY the government should piss away billions in tax dollars (when they're already running horrific deficits) TO CHANGE SOMETHING THAT IS CURRENTLY WORKING.

--- End quote ---
I dunno, I've already saved US motorists 13.5 billion dollars, compared to  your initial estimate, & even allowing for the outlier cases, you should be able to save at least 50% by using stickers  instead of completely replacing all your signs .
Many could be done with two guys in a pickup truck with a stepladder.

In any case, each State will already have provision in their Budget for sign replacement, so some of the cost could be covered by that.(if, of course, such signs are a State responsibility like they are in Oz).
It doesn't have to be done immediately, anyway.

The whole cost of Metrication in Australia was hardly a "blip" on the curve showing the total outgoings including other, usually recurring, expenses.

At this point, you are perhaps thinking "Australia has a much smaller population-- it won't scale".
Maybe, but you have a much larger economy, & many more people to do the acual work.

--- Quote ---

--- Quote from: vk6zgo ---As I pointed out, it was unnecesssary to modify speedos in 1974, so why is it so essential, now?
You can't tell me that American drivers are stupider than Australian ones!
--- End quote ---

Wanna bet?  Over here, it seems if you can fog a mirror seven times out of ten you can get a license.  There are some mind numbingly stupid people on the road.  (Though we do at least drive on the right side of it.  :P :P )

-Pat

--- End quote ---

I dunno, some Australian drivers are "plenty dumb"!   ;D

At the end of the day, few people really care if you go Metric or stay "Customary", but arguments that can be substantially refuted don't make your case much more rational.

Mr. Scram:
You don't have to replace everything in a big bang scenario. Some things are more convenient to replace right away but most can simply be replaced when they needed to be replaced anyway.

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