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Are Imperial Measurements outdated?
The guide to imperial measurements.
Posted 10 years ago by Neronax in category: geeky
Comments (10)
causeby - 10 years ago [ Reply ]
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Yeah. Instead it makes much more sense for the standard unit of length to be one ten-millionth the distance from the equator to a pole... except it isn't really that length at all, so it's just arbitrary. And also it totally makes sense to use the completely arbitrary second for your time unit, and to use a nonlinear scale for sound. Also, it makes perfect sense for "kilo" to mean "a thousand base units", except for the kilogram which means "one base unit, forget about the kilo part". Also it makes sense to do anything that the French promote.

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(guest) - 10 years ago
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  The gram is the base unit. And the issue is not so much about arbitrary unit but about the consistency of your measurement system. Oh, and you forgot to mention the farenheit scale wich is the most arbitrary unit system you can think of... just saying... And if the origin of all those scales can be traced back to the french revolution, it is in fact promoted by the science community all over the world as they are part of the International System of Units (in wich, indeed, the kilogram is the base unit). So keep your 13th century units if you like. But you should also stop to use the internet, your car or even electricity if you want to be consistent with yourself.... 
heftygrain - 10 years ago
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  I doubt the distance from the equator to a pole had anything to do with the definition of the meter, because I don't think anyone saw how that was relevant or even knew what that distance was at the time it was defined. The second is actually based on a fraction of the length of a day (though indeed /somewhat/ arbitrary), and it makes very much sense to use a nonlinear scale for sound since the human ear works that way. And "guest" has already explained the (kilo)gram. Oh and no, it doesn't make sense to do anything that the French promote, but there are more peoples than the French, British, and Americans, in case you hadn't noticed. Anyway, you are in the minority by using the imperial system, guess it has something to do with what the guy in the video explains. 
(guest) - 8 years ago
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  Sorry sir but kilograms are a modified units for grams  

sam (guest) - 10 years ago [ Reply ]
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To heftygrain, well you should just open a few books to see that the definition of a meter was indeed meant to be a fraction of the distance from equator to north pole, and some guys decided to mesure that distance in the years 1790, in France, and they did. (ok forget the books, try wikipedia). It was later found not acurate enough, so it is now (i believe) the distance light travels in 299 792 458/1 of a sec.

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heftygrain - 10 years ago
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  Yup, I was wrong about that and the French, but did the French also define the kilogram or second or sound scale? 
heftygrain - 10 years ago
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  Uhm yup, also the kilogram :3 How well informed I am ;) 

njbartlett - 10 years ago [ Reply ]
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You're missing the point. Yes, the base units are essentially just as arbitrary in the SI system as they are in the imperial system. It's the way they subdivide and combine consistently that makes them SO much easier for doing real scientific calculations.

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(guest) - 10 years ago [ Reply ]
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Imperial units aren't meant to convert in the same fashion. if you're doing science that needs to cross units all the time then metric system is better. On the other hand, I still consider Fahrenheit a better describer of weather and feet and inches a better description of human height. Metric works in 10s and 100s so it works great if you're working at scientific scales. But in human scales, it often describes the range of stuff used much better. This sort of talk always seems like hatred of Chinese or whatever. Are all the symbols a pain? Yes. But they tell information in a different way than possible in western languages and only a small fraction of the characters are actually used normally. Some things are better one way and some things are better the other. And the existence of both means we can continue to think of units as something beyond doubleplus good. Sometimes excellent or great is better. Sometimes it's more helpful to just count pluses. Usage usage usage.

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HoraceSPatoot - 10 years ago [ Reply ]
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No one is expected to remember or convert all the units in the imperial system. In general, the strange units came about because they were conveniently sized for some trade or other, so it's more a matter of custom than logic. Scientists also use convenient nonmetric units; eg parsec, AU, light year, barn (OK, that's area), and many other measurements that are convenient multiples of physical constants that are stubbornly nonmetric. I think the problem is that we don't all use the same units for everyday measurements. We really should, and metric requires less mental energy to convert between scales so it's the better choice for that reason.

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