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Should the US Adopt the Metric System?

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  • Should the US Adopt the Metric System?

    It seems to me that it would make sense for the U.S. to adopt the metric system as its official system of units. It is much easier to convert units in the within the metric system, and it would (eventually) end the need to convert from the U.S. customary system to the metric system. With only one set of units needed for manufacturing products, foreign trade would also be easier. While there would be some costs to adopt it, it seems as though the time saved from no longer having to use the old system would eventually pay off.

    I figure we should pick up where we left off and finish changing all the highway signs to metric. There are already a couple highways with metric signs that were put up when the U.S. first tried to switch in the 1970s (eg. I-19).

    And just for reference, here is a history of the metric system in the United States: http://science.howstuffworks.com/why...ric-system.htm
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    "Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do."-Jeremy Bentham

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  • #2
    Ofcourse you lot should.
    Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
    1 Corinthians 16:13

    "...he [Doherty] is no historian and he is not even conversant with the historical discussions of the very matters he wants to pontificate on."
    -Ben Witherington III

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    • #3
      Delaware tried to go metric when they constructed Route 1. The exit numbers are still kilometers but they changed back to mile markers. Originally even the speed limit signs were in km/h, making the top speed 100 km/h. People who didn't know what km/h stood for were really taking off until DelDOT changed the signs back to English.

      New Jersey DOT tried the same thing back in the 1990s but it became so confusing that they reverted back to English. Their metric design manuals are still around, but gathering dust.
      When I Survey....

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      • #4
        No! We like our miles per hour! The metric system is only for science class and science papers.
        If it weren't for the Resurrection of Jesus, we'd all be in DEEP TROUBLE!

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        • #5
          Originally posted by stfoskey15 View Post
          It seems to me that it would make sense for the U.S. to adopt the metric system as its official system of units. It is much easier to convert units in the within the metric system, and it would (eventually) end the need to convert from the U.S. customary system to the metric system. With only one set of units needed for manufacturing products, foreign trade would also be easier. While there would be some costs to adopt it, it seems as though the time saved from no longer having to use the old system would eventually pay off.

          I figure we should pick up where we left off and finish changing all the highway signs to metric. There are already a couple highways with metric signs that were put up when the U.S. first tried to switch in the 1970s (eg. I-19).

          And just for reference, here is a history of the metric system in the United States: http://science.howstuffworks.com/why...ric-system.htm
          Yes, it's ridiculous inertia that we're not on metric.
          "I wonder about the trees. / Why do we wish to bear / Forever the noise of these / More than another noise / So close to our dwelling place?" — Robert Frost, "The Sound of Trees"

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Sam View Post
            Yes, it's ridiculous inertia that we're not on metric.
            But if you give 'em a centimeter, they'll take all our figures of speech.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Faber View Post
              Delaware tried to go metric when they constructed Route 1. The exit numbers are still kilometers but they changed back to mile markers. Originally even the speed limit signs were in km/h, making the top speed 100 km/h. People who didn't know what km/h stood for were really taking off until DelDOT changed the signs back to English.

              New Jersey DOT tried the same thing back in the 1990s but it became so confusing that they reverted back to English. Their metric design manuals are still around, but gathering dust.
              by English, I take it you mean the Imperial system?
              Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
              1 Corinthians 16:13

              "...he [Doherty] is no historian and he is not even conversant with the historical discussions of the very matters he wants to pontificate on."
              -Ben Witherington III

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              • #8
                Lincoln Chafee is running for president with this as his platform. His reasoning wasn't that it would make sense; it would serve as a sign of good will to the rest of the world.

                (No, this isn't how you win.)

                Seriously, though, in the US, I believe metric is already fairly standard within science/engineering so I'm not sure that it would practically have a lot of benefits to outweigh the confusion of conversion.
                "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post
                  Seriously, though, in the US, I believe metric is already fairly standard within science/engineering so I'm not sure that it would practically have a lot of benefits to outweigh the confusion of conversion.
                  And medical.

                  I think the US should adopt the metric system the day after I'm dead.
                  The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Raphael View Post
                    by English, I take it you mean the Imperial system?
                    Yeah, sorta. In Europe a foot is 0.3048 meter. In the United States, a U.S. Survey Foot is 1200/3937 meter. The difference is a ratio of 1.000002. Hardly significant when measuring something, but in State Plane Coordinate Systems a distance of 100 miles means a two foot discrepancy.
                    Last edited by Faber; 07-16-2015, 09:46 PM.
                    When I Survey....

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
                      I think the US should adopt the metric system the day after I'm dead.
                      And 1.83 meters under.
                      When I Survey....

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                      • #12
                        The US has been on its metric system since 1866.

                        The US meter is exactly 39.37 inches. It is used for land measurement.
                        Where the international meter is based on exactly 2.54 centimeters per inch.

                        Which make the US meter 1 = 1.000002 international meter.
                        The US meter is slightly longer.
                        . . . the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; . . . -- Romans 1:16 KJV

                        . . . that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: . . . -- 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 KJV

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Faber View Post
                          And 1.83 meters under.
                          Yeah, that and the whole 8.2296 meters.
                          The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by 37818 View Post
                            Which make the US meter 1 = 1.000002 international meter.
                            The US meter is slightly longer.
                            Actually a meter is a meter, defined as the length light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 second. It's the feet that are different. The only difference in the United States meter and the International meter is how it's spelled.
                            When I Survey....

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
                              And medical.

                              I think the US should adopt the metric system the day after I'm dead.
                              When you are dying in the hospital the IV drip and meds you're on will be in metric. If you die in a car accident, all the parts in the car are metric. If you are speared by a two by four in a tornado, that would still be the relict of the antiquated English system that killed you.
                              Last edited by shunyadragon; 07-16-2015, 10:04 PM.
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                              But will they come when you do call for them? Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, Act III:

                              go with the flow the river knows . . .

                              Frank

                              I do not know, therefore everything is in pencil.

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