US divers using metric?

[boulderjohn]

just can't get my head around as to why did the US have to make their own measurements?

They didn't. They just didn't change when others did. They started as British colonists using the English Units system. The English Units system was changed somewhat throughout the British Empire in 1824. Canada was still part of the British system, but the U.S. was not.

United States customary units - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The US system of units is similar to the British imperial system.[4] Both systems are derived from English units, a system which had evolved over the millennia before American independence, and which had its roots in Roman and Anglo-Saxon units.

The customary system was championed by the United States-based International Institute for Preserving and Perfecting Weights and Measures in the late 19th century. Advocates of the customary system saw the French Revolutionary, or metric, system as atheistic.[5] An auxiliary of the Institute in Ohio published a poem with wording such as "down with every "metric" scheme" and "A perfect inch, a perfect pint".[5] One adherent of the customary system called it "a just weight and a just measure, which alone are acceptable to the Lord."[5]

 

[dfx]

So why does it make any difference that daily units used by the people are English/Imperial? There's no real incentive to switch. We do just fine buying milk and gasoline by the gallon, driving miles from one place to another, and putting PSI of gas into our tires and scuba tanks. British pints are great for drinking beer, but US pints work just fine otherwise.

See my previous post and think of youth education. School students have to put up with this nonsense and you can't even blame them for getting confused. Or perhaps the US schools just skip over basic physics because it's too confusing? Or maybe they teach all that stuff in metric, because it makes so much more sense. In that case, why not just ditch the old units completely and save everyone a lot of trouble?

I always cringe when I hear drivers talking about how they have "3,000 pounds of air" in their tank. No you don't! Air isn't that heavy, and if it were, you'd need a crane to haul that tank around.
Now I'm well aware that most people who say this probably know the difference and only use it as short-hand speech or writing. But I'm also quite sure that some people actually don't know the difference and are genuinely confused about what a pound is or isn't. And I can't blame them. Metric solves this and many other issues, it avoids confusion and I'm sure you also can see the benefit of not confusing youngsters who wish to enter the scientific workforce and instead get them started on the right track right from the beginning.

 

[boulderjohn]

See my previous post and think of youth education. School students have to put up with this nonsense and you can't even blame them for getting confused. Or perhaps the US schools just skip over basic physics because it's too confusing? Or maybe they teach all that stuff in metric, because it makes so much more sense. In that case, why not just ditch the old units completely and save everyone a lot of trouble?

U.S. science courses are done in metric. They were when I was in high school nearly half a century ago, and they are now.

 

[dmoore19]

The reason Canadians sell gasoline by the litre is because if they sold it by the gallon most would just collapse from a heart attack when the price was displayed.

 

[Nemrod]

You find it less useful in daily life because we are stuck in an archaic system. Eliminate the US Imperial system and conversions become unnecessary. Kids learn metric easily. Smart adults will use conversions for a while until it becomes second nature. Plumbers, carpenters, chefs and bakers will initially think they've been screwed over, until they find that they no longer have to deal with fractions.

However, we will have to change some things. A 2x4 will no longer be 2x4. Of course it hasn't been 2x4 in over a hundred years. It's actually 1.5x3.5. So a 2x4 is only 3.5 wide and a 2x6 is only 5.5, but then bigger sizes change again and a 2x10 is only 9.25 wide. This is really a system worth hanging on to.

So take out a piece of paper that used to be 8.5 x 11 inches and write to your congressmen and senators that they need to wise up.


iPhone. iTypo. iApologize.

LOL, if you were talking to me with the less useful, I will stick with what I said, exactly. I do not convert back and forth and made a point of that. If I am in Metric, I stay Metric, if I am in US Standard I stay in that system. No need to convert. I understand both and both systems work well in my brain cells. I simply prefer the US System, as do many. I find the units more useful and easier to work with and while counter intuitive, just visit a wood working forum for the firestorm threads on the Metric system. There is a rational behind the US Standard system, it was not just because, it was because it works. It would not hurt my feelings if we all went to Metric, but it is not going to happen.There was a push in the 70s and 80s and it just did not pan out. The aviation world largely uses the US system, the Marine world uses nautical units (as does aviation) and so on.

It is very annoying maintaining multiple sets of tools, , but then it is an excuse to visit the SnapOn truck. I do not really care, but I prefer the US System for daily life chores and tasks, for things involving a lot of calculations (science, engineering, math etc.) then I prefer Metric, except for woodworking and metal working.


In the USA, all science and engineering is taught in Metric, as far as I know, since I actually was a geologist and now I am a self taught engineer, and my work title says so, it is certainly what I used in school and much of my work. What we need to do in the US is spend more time on language when our kids are at that magic age. I took Latin, first because I was in science and Latin is useful there and secondly because it is a dead language and third, I could finally understand what my priests were saying .


N

 

[kwinter]

It is very annoying maintaining multiple sets of tools, , but then it is an excuse to visit the SnapOn truck.

Google Metrinch :blinking:


BTW, if you really want to get into the difference between force and work, you will have to explain the difference between mass and weight. Most people get this glazed look in their eyes.

Physics in a nutshell:
1. F=MA
2. What goes up must come down.
3. You can't push on a rope.


iPhone. iTypo. iApologize.

 

[dfx]

BTW, if you really want to get into the difference between force and work, you will have to explain the difference between mass and weight. Most people get this glazed look in their eyes.

Luckily SI has two very distinct units for those. US/imperial does too of course, except that they're both pounds, just different ones :tongue:

---------- Post added July 4th, 2014 at 02:09 PM ----------

U.S. science courses are done in metric. They were when I was in high school nearly half a century ago, and they are now.

Interesting, so they spend (waste) who knows much time in school, teaching them how many feet a quarter of a mile plus two hundred yards is, just to end up teaching them metric after all.

 

[boulderjohn]

Interesting, so they spend (waste) who knows much time in school, teaching them how many feet a quarter of a mile plus two hundred yards is, just to end up teaching them metric after all.

Unfortunately, they need to learn both. The don't teach one and then tell them to forget it. Students need to use metric to do the science classes, and they need to know imperial to get by in daily life.

 

[dmoore19]

Sometime in the mid 60's as I recall, we were introduced to metrics. We were told we would be converting to metric in our lifetime. So far I don't see a lot of movement that way in my normal every day life.

Scuba seems to be rather unique using bar. Pascals (kPa) seems to relate closer to PSI than bar, at least for me.

1 pascal =
0.000145037738 pounds per square inch

 

[dfx]

Unfortunately, they need to learn both. The don't teach one and then tell them to forget it. Students need to use metric to do the science classes, and they need to know imperial to get by in daily life.

Yes, which is why it would be much easier to convert "every day life" to metric. You'd save a lot of time in school learning stuff that are completely pointless and unnecessary exercises in a metric world.