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why is the US not Metric

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KL27x:

--- Quote ---All those pieces of metal will have to be kept in exactly the same temperature & atmospheric conditions while the "comparison" is taking place.
--- End quote ---

Which is what they do; make these things out of platinum and keep them in a controlled environment. The 17 nations splits the cost of maintaining these prototypes.


--- Quote ---
--- Quote ---Scales and thermometers, etc. to make sure they get calibrated to the same prototypes in the same place at the same time under the same conditions. Not just to pass around their pieces of metal.
--- End quote ---
They don't do that at all!
--- End quote ---
The contract clearly states thermometers are calibrated at these meetings. That there is a fee for covering the cost of these meetings and for gaining access to these prototypes. And I would be shocked if they came just to see how shiny the prototypes are and not bring scales and micrometers as well. Knowing the meter in speed of light is great, but to measure that you will use instruments. And those instruments need calibration, too. Until you have had access to this prototype, you can't "calculate" what is the meter from the speed of light listed in meters. Unless you measure it in something else (like feet) and convert. Then are you getting the right "meter?" Or are you getting some error due the way you are measuring? What is the accepted speed of light, itself, is something that probably had input from the group work of these 17 nations.

If you consult wikipedia, the speed of light is exactly 2,9xx,xxx,xxx m/s, or w/e. And it is exact by definition of the meter. But if we were to discover an error between speed of light and this prototype, do you think we will change the proto to match (and all the metric screws and measuring equipment and land deeds)? Or do you think we will just adjust our definition of the speed of light? So which one is more important? We need the protos to calibrate the instruments to measure the speed of light.


--- Quote ---You can't have your "conclave of Nations all crosschecking", & your "france just passed out a leaflet" at the same time.
In reality, there was no just "ok, got it" amongst the countries involved in the early days of Metrics.
--- End quote ---
My point was to refute that these prototypes were meaningless, and that the "defined by circumference of earth/speed of light" was what is important and makes metric great (America did the same thing to their customary by defining it in metric). America would have adopted metric sooner if they would have been able to afford the delegation when Jefferson was President. And/or if that pirate ship hadn't captured the boat carrying the kilo proto. Think about it. America changed the size of an inch to match with metric. This itself is huge. You only want to do that once. Much better to sit down with the other 17 nations and the protos before you do that.

I'm afraid neither of you know what a strawman argument is. I'm so confused how you both use this word.  :-//

vk6zgo:

--- Quote from: KL27x on December 16, 2019, 02:44:39 am ---
--- Quote ---All those pieces of metal will have to be kept in exactly the same temperature & atmospheric conditions while the "comparison" is taking place.
--- End quote ---

Which is what they do.


--- Quote ---
--- Quote ---Scales and thermometers, etc. to make sure they get calibrated to the same prototypes in the same place at the same time under the same conditions. Not just to pass around their pieces of metal.
--- End quote ---
They don't do that at all!
--- End quote ---
The contract clearly states thermometers are calibrated at this meetings. It's interesting reading.


--- Quote ---You can't have your "conclave of Nations all crosschecking", & your "france just passed out a leaflet" at the same time.
In reality, there was no just "ok, got it" amongst the countries involved in the early days of Metrics.
--- End quote ---
My point was to refute that these prototypes were meaningless, and that the "defined by circumference of earth/speed of light" was what is important. America would have adopted metric sooner if they would have been able to afford the delegation when Jefferson was President. And/or if that pirate ship hadn't captured the boat carrying the kilo proto.

I'm afraid neither of you know what a strawman argument is. I'm so confused how you both use this word.  :-//

--- End quote ---
So you are the only one in the parade marching in step? ;D

KL27x:
^Group psychosis?  >:D

Sal Ammoniac:

--- Quote from: KL27x on December 10, 2019, 07:05:08 pm ---The Treaty of Versailles wasn't meant to keep a boot on Germany and Japan forever. It wasn't a coronation of America as king of the free world. It was an agreement to allow peace and stability while things got back to normal, with some measure of hope that this kind of thing (WWII) wouldn't ever have to happen again.

--- End quote ---

Dude, do you even know what you're talking about? The Treaty of Versailles pertained to WWI, not WWII. It had nothing to do with Japan, which was on the Allies side during WWI.

It can be argued that the excessively punitive nature of the treaty was one of the eventual triggers of WWII.

KL27x:
^Oh.  :-[ I meant the treaty after WWII. You figured out what I meant, though.

I'm not a history major. I dunno when we learned this in regular school, but it was a long time ago.

What was the treaty of WWII? Warsaw Pact? It looks like most people didn't know that either, or they don't read my posts before randomly calling them "strawman argument."

This was from a week ago, so I'm sure I have said plenty more for you to disagree with. I don't mind being corrected, but I hope it stays on topic for the sake of not getting the thread closed.

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