The USA really needs to convert to Metric!

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zombiess

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Just wanted to get that out there. I'm 36 and I remember in grade school being told how the USA was going to be converting to the Metric system and having it taught to us. Even as a kid I almost laughed at how incredibly easy it was compared to our ridiculous measuring system that is currently in use. I even remember seeing some speed limit signs being posted in MPH and KPH for a very brief time.

What ever happened to the push to convert the USA to the far superior Metric system?
 
Basically what happened was--- it FAILED!

Probably because all these others so haughtily saying there's something wrong with our system are always asking for money---Just can't stand on their own two FEET! The British always want theirs in POUNDS---Needi I say more?

And those naughty international sailors, they still use nautical miles.
 
Even metric countries it can be painful to get hardware in metric - the local hardware chain has more imperial than metric fittings - dagnammit. Proper engineering suppliers are a lot better though.
 
heathyoung said:
Even metric countries it can be painful to get hardware in metric - the local hardware chain has more imperial than metric fittings - dagnammit. Proper engineering suppliers are a lot better though.
Click to expand...

That really surprises me. The USA is really far from the manufacturing powerhouse it once was and most items are made in countries that use metric. Even here in the USA many cars are mostly metric. GM was only using SAE for the motors, every thing else is metric. All of my 1998+ GM cars have been that way. SAE just annoys me, it's rediculous to specify sizes in fractional form, very inconvenient.

Funding metric parts here can be a challenge too, but with internet suppliers it is easier, just more expensive if you only need a few. $4.40 in parts plus $8.45 shipping charge :(
 
YEs crazy that amrica is still impreial,even though the currency is metric, i like australias kph and grams etc...and metric shite . when my old man tells me the movies youse to cost two and six? it goes over my head

im forever converting mph to kph on this forum

but the poms still use mph as well as the yanks

PLus the american tonne short or long is different to the metric tonne, could have a problem if its a big batch of ........

As yo say zombies ( i made thT Up), the math is much easier when everthing corrolates

THINK INEED A NEW KEYBORD
 
for that type of stuff to happen, the govt has to start with steps like marking all supermarket goods in imperial and in metric, and making metric the official commercial measure in business and technology for trading companies. companies probably prefer it, and then it will become ambivalent. :lol:


and having 2 sets of allen keys, metric and imperial ones.
 
zzoing said:
for that type of stuff to happen, the govt has to start with steps like marking all supermarket goods in imperial and in metric, and making metric the official commercial measure in business and technology for trading companies. companies probably prefer it, and then it will become ambivalent. :lol:


and having 2 sets of allen keys, metric and imperial ones.
Click to expand...
Having the govt force it is where the problems started. It needs to be voluntarily adopted and then for anything govt to come along with. 'mericans really don't like being told what to do by govt.
 
Nowdays, it's hard for me to find the sae sockets anymore. All the machines are metric now. But go to the hardware store, and there are the racks and racks of lag bolts and other stuff in SAE. Beats me why they need to be SAE, everybody is just whipping out the adjustable wrench for that task, or using one of the new fits anything including damaged bolts tools.

I could give a shit if we spent money converting to km instead of miles. All that signage to replace, bla bla bla. But why a lag bolt still comes in SAE makes no sense at all.

What really amazed me, was the 20 years it took for a butterfly bolt to start coming with a Phillips head. Go to use those, and first thing, 15 min searching for that slot head bit for the screw gun. Then it still takes longer to install. Same thing for the screws on electric plugs. Why continue to use a slot head that adds time to the install even if the right tool is right there on your hip. But no, 30 years since the Makita hit the market, and you still see that stuff in slot head.
 
It isn’t surprising that metric never caught on with the American public.
It was never marketed correctly.
In the immortal words of Ray Davies, ‘you gotta give the people what they want!’

Picture a simple marketing campaign targeting the concerns of real world Americans.

For drivers:
“Drive Faster with Metric! Limit Was 25… Now 40! ”

For dieters:
“Miracle Metric Weight Loss Diet! I went from 250 pounds to 113 kilos… overnight!”

For conservatives:
“Give Obama an inch and he’ll take a mile! Fight back, go Metric!”

For liberals:
"Resist Imperialism! Go Metric!"

For guys:
“8 inches??? 20 centimeters!!! Go Metric… she’ll thank you!”
 
For drivers:
“Drive Faster with Metric! Limit Was 25… Now 40! ”
Click to expand...

* Price of gas falls below $1 per liter!

Although it's the efficiency numbers that will be a bitch -- in Europe they use L/100km -- the opposite of mpg. Try converting that in your head on the fly.
 
The carpentry trade is what's keeping imperial alive, work with drywallers, framers, ductwork, etc, they all use inches.. a lot of times you learn this stuff from older people who have never used metric, and if you are the young newb on a job site, or with family tradespeople, you shut the hell up and do what you are told lol.... that's how metric is being held back.... old dogs and new tricks... ya know.
 
I'd have such a nice tool set if only Metric existed. Being that I occasionally need SAE tools, I have to keep some of the budget for those tools too. Imagine how much smaller your tool chest would be if only everything were metric. :shock:
 
spisska said:
Although it's the efficiency numbers that will be a bitch -- in Europe they use L/100km -- the opposite of mpg. Try converting that in your head on the fly.
Click to expand...

OK, I can certainly gripe about this one L/100km is a STUPID measurement. km/L is a much easier to understand system, not sure why the L/100km caught on.

Working with Metric paper sizes is also much easier. I use to plot a lot of Autocad drawings at a previous job and when we did metric work for over seas it was so much easier to scale. I just had to get use to reading the scales correctly, but that was easy. 1:200 vs 1/8"=1'. Sadly I was one of two guys in the entire company that could easily figure out how to plot a metric drawing on an American sized piece of paper while maintaining or changing scale.

When I think about how much more precise construction is here in the USA compared to Asia it boggles my mind. I have seen some huge fails on an epic scale in Asia (not all necessarily related to measurement, mostly very very poor execution).
 
remember the first Mars probe where one group that calculated the trajectory used metric and the guys who made the rockets for landing used feet for the measurements? this was inside NASA no less.
 
Commercial Jets fill up with just a few percent more weight of fuel to get them to their destination, adding in only a safety factors worth...to save on hauling around the weight of a full load. There have been a couple cases of kilograms/pounds confusion and a jet ran out of fuel and all the engines stopped running during the flight.

A ram-air turbine pops out to give them electricity and a minimum of hydraulic pressure, but you are basically steering towards a rapid landing...regardless of what's in front of you at that moment.
 
spinningmagnets said:
Commercial Jets fill up with just a few percent more weight of fuel to get them to their destination, adding in only a safety factors worth...to save on hauling around the weight of a full load. There have been a couple cases of kilograms/pounds confusion and a jet ran out of fuel and all the engines stopped running during the flight.

A ram-air turbine pops out to give them electricity and a minimum of hydraulic pressure, but you are basically steering towards a rapid landing...regardless of what's in front of you at that moment.
Click to expand...

The most famous conversion error with this is probably the Gimli Glider incident (it immediately popped into my head when I read your post). A Boeing 767-233 has a glide ratio of ~12:1 which is impressive for it's size and weight. It's a shame all pilots aren't taught soaring flight, it teaches you so much more about flight. I've only flown one glider myself in a lesson I took (but I have been a P2 paraglider pilot) and getting into some +6 M/s (+1200ft/min) thermals is awesome!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider
 
Canada converted to metric when I was in grade 3...I did grades 1 and 2 in imperial, then 3 on in metric.

I still think of height and weight in feet/inches/pounds. Km/hr made no senses to me until my 20's, now either mph or kph make sense.

I have no concept of what Fahrenheit is without converting to Celsius. Everything I buy I think of in Liters and Grams.

It's a no-brainer though. The USA should have done it long ago. Metric is a breeze to work with...conversions are just moving a decimal point back and forth.

Remember this?

http://www.cnn.com/TECH/space/9909/30/mars.metric.02/

The world laughed...

800px-Metric_system_adoption_map.png
 
Metric doesn't really work very well for nautical navigation, as 1 minute of latitude = 1 nautical mile, allowing you to simply read your distance off the side of a chart with a pair of dividers. So there's one impediment.
 
All the kids in my neighborhood know what 9mm and a kilo are...and ask one of the fat kids how much 2 liters is, and he'll tell you it's just enough soda for lunch.
 
granolaboy said:
It's a no-brainer though. The USA should have done it long ago. Metric is a breeze to work with...conversions are just moving a decimal point back and forth.
Click to expand...

We should have. But how else would they play games with the price/weight at the market? Price comparison of something that comes in 2 liter bottles (67.3 fl oz) versus that same product in a 20 fl oz bottles or 12fl oz cans becomes difficult with imperial measurements. So, if your math skills aren't up to snuff, you could be paying more than needed.
 
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