flurpy2

As far as I can see, most participants on these forums are from the USA.

Please excuse my ignorance, but is there any reason while the USA religiously stick to the "unscientific" or at least "scientifically complicated" non- metric system of gallons, inches, miles, pounds etc.?

Does any one have any opinion how this, opposed to using a metric system, affects the public's acceptance of science?

One of the things that facinated me most of science during my school years, was how everthing was intertwined: A cube of water measuring 100mm x 100mm x 100mm = 1 litre of water = 1 kg etc.

If I grew up with the USA system, I believe (is that word allowed here? ) that much less of science would make sense to me.

Any thoughts?

trillian

25 years ago when I was in 3rd grade in California we learned the metric system and were told that this system would replace the current one in the US "very soon". "Soon" has sure been a long time.

I used to buy ethyl alcohol for a perfume company. I'd place the order in metric, but it would be shipped in gallons, which then had to be converted back to metric for manufacturing, then back to ounces for the actual label on the product. sheeesh!

All the major US based global companies have an interest in switching so I cannot guess as to what holds it back.

I agree it would make learning science easier and sensible. I remember the story of the $125Million lost mars orbiter due to a missed conversion. ouch.

trillian

flurpy2

" I agree it would make learning science easier and sensible. I remember the story of the $125Million lost mars orbiter due to a missed conversion. ouch."

Yeah, we had quite a laugh at the Yanks at the time.

What I did not get is why, oh why, is NASA of all companies and organizations still not on metric?

Another question about metric:
I once heard an argument that the metric system - maybe more accurately the decimal system, evolved because man has 10 fingers he used to count on. Is that true, or is there any thing inherently natural and ordered about decimal?

Elvithriel

NASA obviously uses metric. Although if you listen to the NASA TV broadcasts, the commentators say things in Imperial for the mostly US audience.

NialScorva

Not really. I've gotten so I tend to think in base 2 or 16, since I think it's better ordered and inherently natural. It's easy to translate from base x to base x^y, so base 2 opens up a trivial move to base 2, base 4, base 8, base 16, etc, which gives you several different ways of writing numbers depending upon how you want to use them. It doesn't change anything, but it makes back of the napkin calculations easier if you're comfortable with it.

I have to watch myself when talking to other engineers since I instinctively think "times 2" instead of "times 10" when I hear "order of magnitude".

Undercurrent

My understanding was that it was not NASA itself, but two different contractors involved in the project, one of which used imperial and the other used metric.

As for why the U.S. isn't all metric, need I bring up the flag-waving nut-jobs again?

Pyrrho

The United States is a primitive and barbarous nation, full of superstition and poor education. Change is always difficult, and Americans tend to be lazy and stupid, which makes change even more difficult. After all, what you are suggesting is that Americans actually LEARN something, and that very much goes against the grain. Americans already have a system (not that most of them know it very well), and get confused by trying to convert between such things as miles and meters, and generally do not understand that such conversions would be unnecessary after everything was changed; it would only be needed during the process of change.

(For those who are slow, such as most Americans, the above comments are NOT about absolutely every American, as some are smarter than others, and some are even quite intelligent, compared with many in the world. Too bad they represent such a small percentage of the population.)

I live among the savages myself, and am a witness to all I affirm above. But don't simply take my word for it; by all means, compare scientific literacy rates between the people of various countries and see how the United States compares. And consider the countless wacko religious sects that are in the United States, and the foolishness that they generate. Or, if you want a truly frightening look at Americans, watch the Tonight Show when they have their "Jaywalking" segment and speak with college students about what they know (or, more accurately, don't know). Naturally, not everyone in the United States is as moronic as those who appear on television, but the fact that it is so easy to find such morons in American colleges is truly disturbing.

simian

you have an 20,000 gallon tank in a 9,000 ft^2 room. The tank stores NaOH. How high would a dike around the perimeter of the building need to be to prevent contamination of the surrounding ground?

You have a 80,000 liter tank in a 1,000 m^2 room. The tank stores NaOH. How high would a dike around the perimeter of the building need to be to prevent contamination of the surrounding ground?

I can do the second one in my head to get the correct ballpark figure. How many people that rely on the USCS system can even state the volume of a gallon of water in ft^3?

The only reason the USCS system is considered "better" by darn near anybody is the simple fact that it is the first one taught in the US.

Yes, as an engineer in the US, I work with both sets of units. The only USCS system I use preferentially is psi, simply due to the fact most of the gauges I have give me readings in psi or in bars. I am trying to break that habit, but it is a bit difficult to read in psi, then convert to kPa or MPa.

Simian

Godless Dave

First of all, the USA will fully convert to metric over my dead body.

I don't think use of the English system is a cause of scientific illiteracy, but I think scientific (and mathematic) illiteracy is one thing holding Americans back from using it. On the other hand, many businesses are almost fully metric for business purposes. For science the metric system makes perfect sense because of its consistency and convertability. But I don't think regular citizens measuring things in miles and feet impedes science. And for some uses the English measurements are just more useful. A foot is a handy unit of measurement. A decimeter is not. For scientific purposes putting 0 degress at freezing and 100 at boiling makes sense. But for cooking and talking about the weather Farenheit is more precise and more useful.

And, yard, foot, and mile are short, Anglo-saxon words. Meter, kilometer, and liter have more syllables and are, frankly, French.

The real question is when will the rest of the world back off from their pro-metric hysteria. I heard (please tell me if it's true or not) that you can no longer be served a pint in an English pub, you have to order a half liter. That's ludicrous. You may as well go back to Waterloo and let Napoleon win.

Gooch's dad

One of the major reasons the US hasn't switched is the cost of retooling. Most machine shops cut threads in imperial sizes, and this isn't trivial. The amount of tooling to change is huge.

Then again, the US is doing less and less actual manufacturing. A few more years and switching to metric will be painless.