Are you still imperial?

This topic often comes back and I thought I would post a poll to add to the "debate". I was "metric born" but as I'm living in the States, I dive imperial (and hate it) in the US and dive metric in the rest of the world.

A lot of my American friends seem to have a problem understanding that the rest of the world has adopted the metric system. The reason: it's simpler and more precise. There are 1,000 grams in a kilogram, 1,000 meters in a kilometers. Who knows how many feet in a yard? How many yards in a mile? Most don't. Most need a conversation tool to switch from one imperial measure to another. Not with the metric system. On top of it, metric makes it easier to transposing weights and volumes: 100 liters of water is 100 kilos or 0.1 cubic meter. Can you do that with ounces and cubit feet without a piece of paper? Finally, do you know that 1 UK ounce is 0.96076 US ounce? Well, grams are the same all over the world...

According to the US census bureau (blue.census.gov), the world population is 6,257,911,365 while the US population is 284,796,887. That's about only 4.55% of the world population that's still sticking to imperial. Oh, yes, there are two other countries still using the Imperial system: Liberia and Burma, two countries with a stellar record regarding human rights, but that's a whole different debate...

So, are you still Imperial?

I grew up in a metric country and then moved to the States. However England is really only pretend metric, and having learned to dive in the States and having never dived metric, I'd probably end up converting a lot of things back to ft if I ever did.

On the other hand I was wondering how many cubic feet of air the 36lb bladder on my BC held, and ended up converting everything to metric to solve the problem since I know that 1Litre of water weighs more or less 1Kg, but I have no Idea what 1cuft of water weighs.

I understand that the first opportunity the US had to adopt the metric system was shortly after its creation following the French Revolution. The Congress during the Washingon administration concluded it would be too expensive to impose this experiment on the country. Also, as a Republic (at the time at least) lacking the force of Imperial edict on its diverse states, it probably could not have imposed it anyway.

If the Americans choose to do their own thing and decline to join the rest of the world in following the French, it's their decision and they seem happy to deal with the disadvantages. But like many things, its often different than what the British use so it's hardly "Imperial."

I grew up in Australia, which converted to the metric system in the 60's. My father, being in trade, used both imperial and metric, so I'm pretty comfortable using either. But here in the States I have to use imperial measurements for diving, because no-one else knows how deep a metre (sorry, meter!), or how much pressure a bar is. Isn't bar a type of DIN valve? ut:

Metric measurements also make great sense for diving - each 10msw is an additional ATA. So surface = 1ATA, 10m = 2ATA, 20m = 3ATA, 30m = 4ATA, etc.

Tanks are measured in litres (sorry, liters!) of water capacity. A common size is 12L - that's how much water the tank would hold if you pulled the valve out and held it under a tap (sorry, spigot!). Because 1 bar is approximately ambient pressure at the surface (that's where the standard comes from), it's easy to convert how many litres of air are left in your tank at any given pressure. A 12L tank, full at 200 bar, holds 2400L of air. If you breath it down to 100 bar, you've got 1200L of air left, etc. So it's easy to calculate at the beginning of the dive how much gas you have - over here in the US, if you've got an 80cf tank, it's stuck in your head that there's 80cf of gas. No-one works out that they've got 73cf because they had a hot fill, or 83cf because they had a guy at the shop stuff it for them. Everyone works in PSI, and you need to know the working pressure of the tank, tank's capacity at working pressure, and actual pressure, to determine how much gas you have. With metric system, you just need to know the water volume, and actual pressure. Makes the math simpler.

My 2c (because you still use the penny over here!).

The metric system is logical, well sort of logical. It was designed to fit together. The Imperial system is totally illogical. The Imperial system came about over hundreds of years and one part was developed without regard to fitting it into a sysyem. The Imperial system is not actually a system at all, but more of a mixture of unrelated measurements. Each unit of the Imperial system works well. Temperature in the metric system is not as precise nless you move into fractions of a degree. Bar vs PSI? PSI is much more precise. Feet vs meters? Again Imperial is more precise. Is Imperial superior? Not really. The ease of conversion in metric is important and we can easily use cm or mm if we need more precision. OTOH, when I buy a pint, I know i'll drink it in one sitting. If I buy a liter, I know I'll drink a pint, a friend will drink a pint and the rest will go bad before I get back to it. The Imperial system has units designed around what worked, the metric system was designed around the distance from the north pole to the equator.

BTW, 3 ft/yd (12 in/ft and 36 in/yd), 1760 yds/mile (5280 ft/mile) - from memory.

What does the stellar record regarding human rights of Liberia, Burma (Imperial system), China, or Cambodia (metric system) have to do with a comparison of the metric and Imperial systems?

"My 2c (because you still use the penny over here!)."

Actually, we don't and haven't since the revolution. We use the cent. Calling a cent a penny is very common, but technically incorrect. The terminology is merely a carry over from colonial times. The term "my 2 cents" is newer and reflects the actual currency of the US.

I knew the word penny would get me into trouble. Oh well, I guess there is a market for ashtrays with "Take a cent, leave a cent" printed on them then!

I suppose using one cent coins is much more precise for cash transactions though

For cash transactions, I suspect lira might be more precise.

Canada has seriously considered getting rid of the "penny" yes thats what it is called here also metre, litre and we say out and about too The transition to metric continues with most still stuck in a gray world between the two. Hell I apply fertilizer on a kg/acre basis and spray material on a litres/ acre one. I drive 100 kilometers per hour to get to Cranbrook which I know is 67 miles away. my gas mileage is always calculated in Kilometers per gallon ( lotta work there) One day we will rid the world of the hated Imperial dominance. But not in my life time ( metric is much easier tho )
ut:

I grew up in NZ then moved to the USA so i have the benifit of both.

Andy