# Why we should be using the metric system in the US



## jar546 (Jul 27, 2020)

The United States is now the only industrialized country in the world that does not use the metric system as its predominant system of measurement.  Let that sink in.

Most Americans think that our involvement with metric measurement is relatively new. In fact, the United States has been increasing its use of metric units for many years, and the pace has accelerated in the past three decades. In the early 1800's, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (the government’s surveying and map-making agency) used meter and kilogram standards brought from France. In 1866, Congress authorized the use of the metric system in this country and supplied each state with a set of standard metric weights and measures. 

In 1875, the United States solidified its commitment to the development of the internationally recognized metric system by becoming one of the original seventeen signatory nations to the Treaty of the Meter. The signing of this international agreement concluded five years of meetings in which the metric system was reformulated, refining the accuracy of its standards. The Treaty of the Meter, also know as the “Metric Convention,@ established the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) in Sèvres, France, to provide standards of measurement for worldwide use. In 1893, metric standards, developed through international cooperation under the auspices of BIPM, were adopted as the fundamental standards for length and mass in the United States. Our customary measurements -- the foot, pound, quart, etc. -- have been defined in relation to the meter and the kilogram ever since.

As someone who grew up with a 72" folding rule and tape measure in his hands, I know the ins and outs of our current system.  As someone who is forward thinking, I realize we are way, way too long overdue to convert to the metric system, especially the manufacturing industry (it will save them money) and the construction industry.  It won't take as long as you may think to get use to.

More info here:
https://www.nist.gov/system/files/d...wn needs.-,Q.,necessity for the United States.


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## jar546 (Jul 27, 2020)

Here are Some Reasons We Should Have Gone Metric a Long Time Ago:
As taken from: http://joshuarigsby.com/2015/08/22/...rica-should-have-gone-metric-a-long-time-ago/

*1. The Metric System is a Better System*
*We are by and large, a base-ten species* (with a few notable exceptions), likely due to the number of fingers on our hands (unless your hands have been mangled by freak carpentry accidents caused by poor conversions from centimeters to inches). We think in tens. We live in tens. We make love in tens.

Percentages are based on how much of 100 something is. We use percentages all the freaking time.

*Decimals.* Decimals are much easier to understand than fractions. Ask any librarian.

*Scalability.* You can move up or down in any quantity easily. Look at a map. See those two cities 10 centimeters apart? Want to know how many kilometers are between them? Just scale up. Easy-peasy.

*It’s symmetrical and beautiful and synchronous. * At what temperature does water freeze? Zero. At what temperature does it boil? 100. Simple. Like I said, humans really go for things that are multiples of 10. And before you get all bent out of shape about atmospheric temperatures, see the entry for *Decimals *above.

*Universal Application*. The overwhelming majority of human beings on earth use the metric system on a daily basis for all of their needs and have found it to be superior to their old way of doing things.

Which means…


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## jar546 (Jul 27, 2020)

*2. We Are Pretty Much Alone in the World*
Burma, Liberia, and the good ole’ retrograde US of A are the only countries on earth that haven’t fully adopted the metric system.
Let that sink in for a minute. China, Russia, Canada, and Mexico all use the metric system. The wealthiest nations on earth: Qatar, Luxemburg, Singapore. The poorest nations on earth: Somalia, Burundi, Central African Republic. When ISIS or Al Qaeda plan to attack the United States, they use the metric system. When the European Space Agency lands a probe on a comet they use the metric system.

All of our bitterest enemies, strongest rivals, and closest allies use the metric system. America may have an outsized influence on world affairs, but we aren’t bigger than the rest of the world combined.

There are myriad reasons that this matters. Brotherhood of man, assisting in supplying (or receiving) international aid, among others, and these are all fine and good, but even the fact that *we are the laughing stock of the rest of the world* doesn’t seem to move the needle for metrication deniers.

Faux-folksy politicians like to wax eloquent about how the United States is supposed to be the greatest nation on earth. Yet, strangely, we are decades behind the rest of the planet on this issue (and several others as it turns out).

The fact that we are in the minority is to our disadvantage.

Don’t believe me? Keep reading.


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## jar546 (Jul 27, 2020)

*3. Ye Olde English / Metric Conversion Errors Cost the United States Millions of Dollars Every Year*
In an increasingly global marketplace, being an outlier is more than an inconvenience, it’s a liability. Any company that imports or exports products, that uses foreign parts or components, or interacts with weights and measures in virtually any capacity is forced to deal with conversions between the metric and Ye Olde English systems constantly.

Conversion errors occur frequently and catastrophically. I used to work for an import/export  company. We dealt with metric conversions on a daily basis. Despite copious due diligence, errors were made. Money was lost. I can only imagine that this reality is multiplied by thousands of businesses each year resulting in millions of dollars of lost revenue.

*And those are just the run-of-the-millimeter conversion errors. Every once in a while we get in the mood to really outdo ourselves and vomit gobs of good money down the toilet.*
*Exhibit A)* Tokyo Disney’s Space Mountain had to be shut down because an axle on one of the roller coasters snapped. The cause? Conversion error.

*Exhibit B)* A Canadian passenger plane ran out of fuel due to not one but two conversion errors.

*Exhibit C)* Perhaps most famous of all, NASA’s Mars Orbiter spacecraft crashed in 1999 because one team of engineers used Ye Olde English while the rest (along with the rest of NASA) used metric. The result? *$125 MILLION taxpayer dollars burned up in the Martian atmosphere*. Don’t hate on NASA either. Them’s my boys. Hate on the outdated, outmoded, American policy that forces people to switch between two systems in the first place.


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## jar546 (Jul 27, 2020)

*4. Conversions Cost Time & Effort*
Every time Americans interact with the metric system they are forced to make a choice. They can either take time to convert from the anachronous moth-eaten Ye Old English system, or scratch their head in befuddlement.

In a world where seconds, nay, _miliseconds_ matter in world events, why would we want to be minutes behind?

This isn’t just a problem for Mickey Mouse, NASA, or international shipping conglomerates. I mean anyone who tries to mechanic a foreign-made car or (God-forbid)  calculate their luggage weight before traveling abroad.  Americans abroad are lost in hectares of kilometers, kilograms and milliliters. Take any tour of a culturally significant site outside of the hallowed USA and any mention of weight, distance, or temperature will struggle to penetrate our mental faculties constipated with outdated Ye Olde English yokelisms.

Yes, I know you can just Google it. By why? Why bother? Why not use the better system in the first place and save the risk of wasted money and wasted time converting anything?

Wasted time is tragic, but befuddlement is tragic too.


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## jar546 (Jul 27, 2020)

*5. Our Backward System Hurts Our Children*
You know where Americans rank in math and science? Poorly. You know what’s partially to blame? Conversions.  I’m not saying that switching systems will magically fix our pitiful school performance. But it will clear one hurdle for our kids. All that time we spend teaching two different measurement systems and the means of converting from one system to another could be spent teaching them something useful and relevant.

Teaching our kids Ye Olde English is like teaching them to gather food with sharpened sticks and blunt rocks.  It doesn’t make sense any more. There is a *better* way. Staying in a retrograde system doesn’t help anyone, it puts our kids behind.

What’s more? All the advances in science and math going on in the rest of the world are blindfolded from our kids and unintelligible to them because they don’t intuitively understand what the units mean. Fewer kids get excited about math and science. Fewer kids study it.

We fall further behind.


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## jar546 (Jul 27, 2020)

*6. Metric Conversion Errors Could Literally Be Killing You.*
In February 2016, the Centers for Disease Control announced that it was revising a report on unsafe levels of formaldehyde found in Lumber Liquidators flooring laminates sourced from China. The problem? The CDC’s original report improperly used meters (as the Chinese suppliers did) in its calculations instead of feet (the system used in American construction) in calculating ceiling heights. This downplayed the risks associated with the formaldehyde levels. The revised report, which corrected the conversions, places the risks 3 times higher than the original estimates.

In other words, because the United States uses a different measurement system than the rest of the world, a government agency nearly made a faulty report which could have resulted in cancer for as many as 30 people per data set, as opposed to the 9 as originally reported.

An understandable knee-jerk response might be to blame the CDC for its incompetence in this case. Fair enough. The point remains, however, that if we were a fully metricated country, this, and similar conversion problems would never have occurred.


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## jar546 (Jul 27, 2020)

*7. Good news! You already use Metric Units!*
Surprise! Americans use the metric system every day!

We measure our soft drinks in liters! And our engines! And our wine!
Our athletes swim and run 100 meters, 5k, and 10k distances! At the same time!
Want to go to jail for possessing illegal drugs? Smuggle-in some kilos of cocaine and the DEA will prosecute you with the metric system!
Would you rather fight your neighborhood drug kingpin for distribution control in your hometown? Take a 9 millimeter handgun and shoot that dude. This is America!
Oops! Gun battle didn’t go so well? That’s okay, just go to the hospital where they’ll treat you using… THE METRIC SYSTEM! Yay! Need 1,000 Cubic Centimeters of Morphine STAT? They got it! All your medication will come in metric units for the rest of your life.
Want to rethink your career choice? Good idea. Perhaps you should consider going into computer programming, where kilobytes, megabytes, and gigabytes are measured metrically. Or satisfy your inner artist with digital photography which uses megapixels.
Still prefer shooting people with guns? Join the US Army which measures distances in _klicks_, military slang for kilometers.
Want to blow even bigger stuff up? Become a Nuclear scientist and measure nuclear blasts in kilotons of TNT.
Or, you know what? Just become any scientist in any field, whatsoever. Or an engineer, for that matter. Virtually all American scientists use metric units for measurements.
Do you know why we use calories to measure our food intake? Because a milliliter of water takes up one cubic centimeter of space and requires exactly one calorie of energy to increase its temperature by one degree centigrade. See how beautifully the metric system locks in with itself? Try figuring out what the relationships between those things are in the Olde English System. You’ll break your neck.
Many of these are holdovers from America’s frustratingly half-assed first attempt at going metric in the 1970s. Some, however, are the result of agencies or industries just wholesale deciding that metric is the better way, and following through with metrication on their own. Their staying power in American life is evidence that we can, in fact, make the switch to metric, and that it won’t kill us or make the stars and stripes dissolve into a smoldering poop pile on the ground.


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## jar546 (Jul 27, 2020)

*8. Winners Never Quit / Quitters Never Win*
Right now we’re losing.

It is true that we tried this once. Lots of people like to complain about how they spent the 1970s converting between metric and Ye Olde English. How it was such a waste of time. How they could have spent that time doing something else.

We quit in the middle of the transition. We gave up. We said that something the rest of the planet has done was too difficult for the USA.

The thing is, if we had stuck to metrication then, we wouldn’t have these problems now. I would have been raised in a metric world and the temporary discomfort of my parent’s generation would now be ancient history. The problem of a world with two systems will not go away. The longer we wait, the further behind we will get. We need to make the switch now, bite the (9mm) bullet and get it over with. That way my kids don’t have to have these headaches.



Which leads me to…


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## jar546 (Jul 27, 2020)

*9. The Reasons Against Going Metric Are Insultingly Stupid*
Generally the arguments/sentiments against going metric fall into three camps:

*CAMP A – The Pessimistic Prophets of Doom:*
_This will be too much work! Can you imagine trying to convert all this stuff to metric? It would be chaos! We’d lose our minds. This is an impossible transition. It would never work!_

Sure, it would be difficult for everyone, no question.  It will require a lot of money and a lot of effort. But not more effort or money than it will cost to keep our out-dated system in place for the long run. And, it is not impossible. As an example why don’t you look at *ALL THE OTHER COUNTRIES ON EARTH* which have managed, somehow, by hook or crook, to figure out a way of getting it to work for them.



*CAMP B – The Sentimental Sycophants:*
_The_ _Ye Olde English system connects us to the past, to our ancestors. We are maintaining a way of life that has existed for hundreds of years. If we give it up it will just fade away and disappear._

The argument from tradition is an understandable and useful motivator for preserving cultural institutions such as dying languages, traditional dress, folk music, and dancing. It makes no sense however, in regards to mathematics, science, or technology. If we had applied these traditionalist protectionist ideas to mathematics, we never would have used the calculator, the internet, or modern GPS. We would still be navigating using a compass and sextant. No, actually, a sextant is too advanced, we’d still be blindly following herds of caribou across the frozen north.

Technology and innovation require that we prune away antiquated technology and modes of thinking. The Amish are entitled to their way of life, sure, but I’m willing to bet those guys won’t be the ones to come up with a cure for cancer.



*CAMP C – The Prevaricating Patriots:*
_The metric system is UN-AMERICAN! It has to do with everything we don’t stand for. It was developed by the FRENCH for crying out loud! We are independent free thinkers. We don’t care about the rest of the world._

You don’t seem to have a problem with Ferraris or Gangnam Style. We live on a planet that is also home to non-American human beings. Choosing to impale yourself on the pinnacle of jingoism mountain is not only stupid, it endangers the rest of us. Just because it’s foreign doesn’t mean it’s bad. Despite what you may have heard, other countries are better at things than we are.

Choosing to stay with Ye Olde English is like choosing to believe that the world is flat. Sure, you can get through most of your day without your inane and backward belief system harming you, but you will still be wrong, and if you ever choose to wander away from the shore, you might just die of scurvy.



But here’s the kicker. Are you ready? I don’t think you’re ready. I’ll give you a minute.

*Drums fingers on table*

Ready, now?

No?

Too bad, ’cause here it comes.


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## jar546 (Jul 27, 2020)

*Our Non-Metric Units Were Not Created by Americans.*








We didn’t invent them. The British did. Yeah, _those _British. The Ye Olde English System belongs to the Evil Empire we hated so much we fought two wars to be independent of. Those British. This is THEIR invention. You know what else is culturally British? Tea. And what do we do with tea? That’s right. Throw it into Boston harbor. I would suggest a similar strategy for their measurement system. A system which the British themselves abandoned fifty years ago.

So, if you want to be a colonial holdover to your imperial oppressors, and hate your country, and prefer to pledge allegiance to the queen of England and her outdated and abandoned measurement system that’s your prerogative I guess. But don’t wave an American flag when you do.

That’s all I’m saying.


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## jar546 (Jul 27, 2020)

*10. In Conclusion*
I can accept American exceptionalism when it puts us ahead of the pack. When it’s, you know, to our _advantage_ to be different. But when it puts us behind the rest of the world it feels myopic and stupid. I mean, this is science-denying / moonlander-denying levels of stupidity.

Staying in our old-fashioned measurement system inhibits our young people from engaging in scientific discovery. Since we can’t readily understand what a big deal it is that the Voyager spacecraft move at 16km per second, the match never touches the fuse of our imagination. There is no curiosity. No engagement. No advancement.

We are left with sentimental feelings about the things we used to do instead of leading the charge into the future. Instead of innovating we ruminate. We watch the dust settle on our monuments to the past.

Just change it already.

It won’t hurt that bad.


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## Pcinspector1 (Jul 27, 2020)

You forgot the International Code books have metric in (Parentheses) on your list.

What am I suppose to do with all these tape measures?


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## ICE (Jul 27, 2020)

I was inches away from agreeing with you but then I realized that you are off by a mile.  And it's a country mile at that.


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## jar546 (Jul 27, 2020)

Pcinspector1 said:


> You forgot the International Code books have metric in (Parentheses) on your list.
> 
> What am I suppose to do with all these tape measures?


Throw them out


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## steveray (Jul 28, 2020)

ICE said:


> I was inches away from agreeing with you but then I realized that you are off by a mile.  And it's a country mile at that.



And that is a metric ton of change...All of our dashboards will be wrong....Think of how easy it will be to fight a speeding ticket....


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## Rick18071 (Jul 28, 2020)

I remember in the 70's when they stated pushing metric and I worked in a metal shop and they started changing the prints to metric. This was hard because all of our tools, dies and machines were still all in inches. A  year later all the prints were back to inches. I wished they continued to change to metric.


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## ICE (Jul 28, 2020)

Every communist nation is on the metric system. Makes you wonder.


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## Pcinspector1 (Jul 28, 2020)

I talked to my favorite surveyor, not to keen to that idea, switching to metric. Old surveys that have to be researched at County and State files would have to be converted to metric, and there's some math involved. There could be calculation mistakes that could be costly when doing conversions. I review surveys and catch a lot of mistakes in the land descriptions part that do not match the numbers on the survey drawings. it happens more than you think.

He indicated the state tried switching to metric once, but went back to standard measurement system.


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## jar546 (Jul 28, 2020)

ICE said:


> Every communist nation is on the metric system. Makes you wonder.


Troll


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## Msradell (Jul 28, 2020)

If you want confusion try working for an international company here in the states.  Some equipment that is brought in from Europe is all metric, some from the states is all English and is a lot of equipment that is part English part metric.  Even the US auto industry has many metric parts these days considering how global all of the companies are.  Matter of fact, I would be surprised if well over
50% of a new American-made auto is actually metric.


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## north star (Jul 29, 2020)

*# ~ # ~ #*

Jeff, ...changing over to the metric system these days
would be, for all intents & purposes, impossible !

There would need to be a "true" bipartisan effort to
submit and pass legislation to make the necessary
changes........Do you really expect there to be any
bipartisan efforts from one political party or the other ?
There are too many selfish decision makers to even
submit a bill requiring a change, and even if they did
submit something, ...there are great hords of lobbyists
and law firms who would scream at the top of their
proverbial voices to Not change and come up with
mounds & mounds of reasons not to change over,
...from both sides of the aisle......."Costing the U.S.
money" you say.....What the heck do we care about
wasting money.......Have you seen what is reported
to be the National Debt ?.......Trillions and trillions of
dollars, ...errrrrr, numbers !

While your topic has a lot of merit, there won't be any
changing over any time soon.....We can also add to
the list of improvements:  Doing away with Daylight
Savings Time, ...outlawing all abortions, ...having a
consistent and uniform set of construction Codes &
Standards, ...homelessness, ...human, sex & drug
trafficking, and on and on and on and on.

Keep pressing on my friend........Maybe in this lifetime
you may be The One to get this particular change
passed and enacted.

*Question For You:*  Which political party has the
most to gain, or to lose by this change ?........To
blazes with the voters, ...we haven't mattered in
decades and decades.  

*# ~ # ~ #*


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## jar546 (Jul 29, 2020)

Much of industry has already begun this and you see metric listed next to imperial in a lot of places.  Just look at your food and in the code books.  The US is too far behind with this and this only makes sense.


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## Rick18071 (Jul 29, 2020)

north star said:


> There would need to be a "true" bipartisan effort to
> submit and pass legislation to make the necessary
> change



No laws need to be changed. Any company or local government can change without an act of congress.



ICE said:


> Every communist nation is on the metric system. Makes you wonder.



Every democratic country uses the metric system including the USA in many cases. Doesn't make anyone wonder.

I think USA made products would be more attractable to other countries if out products were metric because they are use to working with metric and so they would not need to buy a whole set of new tools to work on it.


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## tmurray (Jul 29, 2020)

Pcinspector1 said:


> I talked to my favorite surveyor, not to keen to that idea, switching to metric. Old surveys that have to be researched at County and State files would have to be converted to metric, and there's some math involved. There could be calculation mistakes that could be costly when doing conversions. I review surveys and catch a lot of mistakes in the land descriptions part that do not match the numbers on the survey drawings. it happens more than you think.
> 
> He indicated the state tried switching to metric once, but went back to standard measurement system.



We did it. 

And you guys have probably done this in the past. Ever get a survey plan that used "chains" as the length of measure?


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## Paul Sweet (Jul 29, 2020)

Metric has many advantages for measuring, and that part of it is easy to get used to.

It could take a lot of effort to get engineers used to doing calculations in metric, and almost all "rules of thumb" will have to be relearned.  I'm used to the general range of CFM / SF for various types of buildings, and I know to recheck my HVAC calculations when it looks too far out.  Getting used to M^3 / sec / m^2 will take some time.

Structural engineers will have it worse.  A Pascal (gram / M^2) is equivalent to a feather per square yard.  1 PSF is almost 50 Pascals, and 1 KSI is 7,000,000 Pascals (or 7 MegaPascals), so you get into having to use scientific notation fairly quickly, especially when you're dealing with steel & concrete.  Back in the (good old) slide rule days I found it was a lot easier to keep track of the digits than the exponents.  I guess almost everything is done by computer nowadays, so that might not be as much of a problem. 

Conversions are a problem, especially with temperatures.  I've seen several articles where the writer didn't realize that they should use F = 9/5 C for difference instead of F = 9/5 C + 32, so a difference of 50 deg. C came out as 122 deg. F instead of 90.


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