What acceleration produces one gravity force?
- Thread starter ByteMe
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When you're making unit definitions, one nearly ALWAYS takes an experiment that has the most significant digits behind it, so they tend to be obscure values of some experimentalists setup.
What matters is not the fundamental definition for exactness, but the ease and applicability of the unit. Going from mph to feet per hour is too much arithmetic and one doesnt get a good sense unless we've been accustumed to it.
kilometers/hour to meters/hour is easy even for the laymen.
What matters is not the fundamental definition for exactness, but the ease and applicability of the unit. Going from mph to feet per hour is too much arithmetic and one doesnt get a good sense unless we've been accustumed to it.
kilometers/hour to meters/hour is easy even for the laymen.
Willmeister
Newcomer
Because the metre was defined as something like 1/10000 the distance from the Earth's axis of rotation to the equator or something. It was changed later on so that it could be replicated without having to run to a measured metre to compare. This was done so an exact metre could be replicated anywhere.
These are universal constants, like pi. We're fitting these constants into a base 10 number system.
Googling tells me that:
"the meter was intended to equal 10^-7 or one ten-millionth of the length of the meridian through Paris from pole to the equator. However, the first prototype was short by 0.2 millimeters because researchers miscalculated the flattening of the earth due to its rotation."
Bearing in mind that this value was originally calculated in 1791, you can see why they might not have been as accurate with their measurements as they would today.
The original intention for such a measurement was therefore quite sensible as it is calculated from the size of our planet. Now how did the measurement of a foot come into existence... it was the length of somebody's foot or maybe the average size of a foot! How is this less random than the metre? :?
Silent_One
Newcomer
Willmeister wrote:
Sabastian wrote:
). All this after years of trying.
In other words the US is NOT going metric!
No the US will not.
Sabastian wrote:
You are both assuming that since the SI system is so much superior to the current US system (it is) that it's only logical that the US would switch over to it. Unfortunatly that does not appear to be the case. For example the Federal Department of Transportation (FDOT) has for years been trying to switch over highway signs to metric. All federally funded DOT roadbuliding projects were let out to bid and bulit using metric measurements. Cars were bulit with both MPH and KPH on the speedometer. All this has gone to the wayside. The DOT has given up. It was too costly to convert. The public could care less. The logistics was a nightmare. All State and Federal DOT contracts are now in english units. All roadsigns with metric were taken down and returned to engilsh units. Speedometers are in MPH. (although my BMW has a conversion switch in it's computer
). All this after years of trying.In other words the US is NOT going metric!
Willmeister
Newcomer
It will. It might take a few more decades though.
The more globalised the world becomes the more problematic will it become to have multiple unit system. At some point the US will likely have to switch. I don't think the switch will be very problematic. It will just take time to phase out old stuff, get old cars with mph speedometers out of the market. A full transition will likely take a few decades.
When I was in elementary school, I remember the "brainwashing" going on to indoctrinate into metric.
Of course, I resisted.
If they somehow made metric anti-establishment, they'd have more luck.
Of course, I resisted.
If they somehow made metric anti-establishment, they'd have more luck.
Couple things here...which do you think the average person is more likely to relate to...something like the size of their foot, or the size of the planet? Not to hard to understand where most of these English units came from originally if you look at it that way.Mariner said:
With regards to the US changing over...only way you will see it is if something major...and I mean major happens that forces the change. Otherwise it is just way too expensive to do. And about that "brainwashing" I don't think it is really necessary for most people to understand it well (in the US that is) unless their profession requires it (Like Engineers, Doctors...etc.).
Of course this is all further confused by the differences between the Imperial system used in britain and the US system which is similar but uses the quantities from earlier UK times as the changes that made the imperial system were done after the US became a seperate country.
Still, their loss, they get kid sized pints
Still, their loss, they get kid sized pints
OpenGL guy
Veteran
Let's not forget the districts that passed (or tried to) laws saying that pi is 3 or 22/7.Humus said:
ByteMe said:
My old lady was reading this thread while I was and she commented that she didn't think that the idea of adopting the metric system could cause such an uproar.
Needless to say I had to agree with her. The opposition to the metric system here seems a tad irrational.Willmeister
Newcomer
... unless the EU threatens retalliatory tariffs, then the USA caves in quicker than a house of cards.
Next at bat. China.
I expect some quirky and anachronistic things to take place... us will be metric where it counts in science and construction ect but likely retain some things like mph and mpg as they arent necessary to the knowledge based part of society.
Metric is already well established in engineering and such but who cares if they count yards still in football... heck when I shop for a car I look at mpg vs L per 100 kms myself. I know my height in feet and inches but not metric... same for weight but so what...
Metric is already well established in engineering and such but who cares if they count yards still in football... heck when I shop for a car I look at mpg vs L per 100 kms myself. I know my height in feet and inches but not metric... same for weight but so what...
I think it's interesting. In Taiwan, all government things use metric, such as land value in square meters, vegetable price in kg, etc. However, most people still buy land in "ping", buy meat and vegetables in "chin" (600g by definition, I think), buy golds in "liang" and "chien" (1 "chin" = 16 "liang" = 160 "chien"). However, everyone uses kg for their body weight, and cm for height. Packaged foods and milk labeled in grams or cc. Speedometers show km/h. However, airplanes still fly at "FL350" (35,000 feet).
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