Metric for Americans
mctrivia
Posts: 3,772
I have ADD. I got thinking and this is what I ended up writing.
Metric for Americans
To the best of my knowledge metric is the standard for the higher education fields in every country(Medical and Engineering mainly). Also to the best of my knowledge metric is the standard for the Lay people in every country on earth except one. Only one country thinks there general population is to stuped to use the most logical, and easiest standard ever. But I believe that all are capable of using the Metric system and the more that learn it the less I have to deal with crazy numbers like:
0.224808943, 2.2, 3.78541178, 12, 16, 25.4, 32, 212, 5280,
First off unlike the imperial system that is old and based on crazy seemingly random numbers:
• a mile being 8 times the distance a horse can pull a plow in a straight line before it needs a break
• Fahrenhight scale being based on the temperature of brine(0F) and then being able to place 64 divisions between the normal body temperature(96F) and the freezing point of water(32F).
The metric system is all based around water and the planet and is based entirely on powers of 10 and every metric unit can be broken into sub units by adding a prefix to it.
Y 1024
Z 1021
E 1018
P 1015
T 1012
G 109
M 106
k 103
h 102
da 101
d 10-1
c 10-2
m 10-3
u 10-6
n 10-9
p 10-12
f 10-15
a 10-18
z 10-21
y 10-24
So unlike in the imperial system where there is 12 inches to a foot, 3 feet to a yard and 5280 feet to a mile. In the metric system there is 10mm to a cm, 100 cm to a m and, 1000 m to a km you need not remember anything other then these prefixs. Also unlike the imperial system where there is 16 oz to a pound the same prefixs are used on all units of measure. Most of these prefixs you know and use all the time with electronics and computers. You have a 1TB hard drive now, a 4.7GB Blank DVD, a 650 MB CD and your propeller has 32kB of RAM. You have 0.1uF capacitors which you also see some times as 100nF. And you may even have a 10mH inductor.
So now that I may or may have not entirely confused you on the simplicity of changing from bigger to smaller units why don’t we dive into were the units came from and how they interact with each other.
Distance:
First off the meter. Today we define the meter as 1/299,792,458th the speed of light in a vacuum. This may seem random because it is. It is a good definition because it is constant and never changing but where did that number come from? Well very simply it is 1/40,000,000 the circumference of the earth at the equator(or at least as close as could be measured in 1791).
But whey 40,000,000 instead of 10,000,000? Did I not just say the metric system is all about powers of 10? Well there are 2 reasons for 40,000,000.
1) The alternate choice for the length of a meter was the length of a pendulum with a period of 1 sec. This was rejected because since gravitational pull is not constant every ware on earth the this length would not be either. How ever this length is almost exact the same as 1/40,000,000 the earths circumference at the equator.
2) The second is because officially it is “one ten-millionth the length of the earth's meridian along a quadrant” so it is actually still a power of 10
Volume:
Now that we know how to measure the between my house and parallax by road(2,970km) lets move on to how to measure all the water I will be drinking on this 31 hour drive. In the imperial system there is ounces(1), gill(5), pint(20), quart(40), and gallon(160). Ever wondered where these strange units come from? I have no clue where any of the smaller ones come but a gallon is based on the volume taken up by 10lb of distilled water at 62F when the barometer was at 30” of mercury. Ok so they thought this through a little but it is not a very convenient measurement.
In the metric system 1mL is the area taken up by 1 cubic cm. This is much more useful as it allows for easy conversions between a specific volume and a geometric shape of known dimensions.
Try this: How many pints does a 1x1x1 foot cube hold? 49.83068367. What a strange number. Also can you figure out how I got there?
Try this: How many liters does a 1x1x1 meter cube hold? 1000. Now that is a much nicer number. How did I get there? 1m=100cm so 100*100*100=1,000,000mL=1000L
Mass:
Ok so we can easily now figure out that the 1m cube in the back of my care holds 1000L of water way more then enough for a 31 hour drive. Lets figure out how much its mass is.
In the imperial system there is many units of Mass. Grain(1/7000), drachm(1/256), ounce(1/16), pound(1), stone(14), quarter(28), hundredweight(100), and ton(2000) as far as I know only the grain, ounce, pound, and ton are still used. I have no clue where this unit of measurement came from but it is not to useful in math. On the contrary the metric gram is the mass of 1 cubic cm of water. Now that is convenient. It means that as long as we are dealing with water we can convert both distance, volume and mass. So we know that my 1m cube would have a mass of 1000kg which is way more then I can lift and probably more then my little Vibe can hull.
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Metric for Americans
To the best of my knowledge metric is the standard for the higher education fields in every country(Medical and Engineering mainly). Also to the best of my knowledge metric is the standard for the Lay people in every country on earth except one. Only one country thinks there general population is to stuped to use the most logical, and easiest standard ever. But I believe that all are capable of using the Metric system and the more that learn it the less I have to deal with crazy numbers like:
0.224808943, 2.2, 3.78541178, 12, 16, 25.4, 32, 212, 5280,
First off unlike the imperial system that is old and based on crazy seemingly random numbers:
• a mile being 8 times the distance a horse can pull a plow in a straight line before it needs a break
• Fahrenhight scale being based on the temperature of brine(0F) and then being able to place 64 divisions between the normal body temperature(96F) and the freezing point of water(32F).
The metric system is all based around water and the planet and is based entirely on powers of 10 and every metric unit can be broken into sub units by adding a prefix to it.
Y 1024
Z 1021
E 1018
P 1015
T 1012
G 109
M 106
k 103
h 102
da 101
d 10-1
c 10-2
m 10-3
u 10-6
n 10-9
p 10-12
f 10-15
a 10-18
z 10-21
y 10-24
So unlike in the imperial system where there is 12 inches to a foot, 3 feet to a yard and 5280 feet to a mile. In the metric system there is 10mm to a cm, 100 cm to a m and, 1000 m to a km you need not remember anything other then these prefixs. Also unlike the imperial system where there is 16 oz to a pound the same prefixs are used on all units of measure. Most of these prefixs you know and use all the time with electronics and computers. You have a 1TB hard drive now, a 4.7GB Blank DVD, a 650 MB CD and your propeller has 32kB of RAM. You have 0.1uF capacitors which you also see some times as 100nF. And you may even have a 10mH inductor.
So now that I may or may have not entirely confused you on the simplicity of changing from bigger to smaller units why don’t we dive into were the units came from and how they interact with each other.
Distance:
First off the meter. Today we define the meter as 1/299,792,458th the speed of light in a vacuum. This may seem random because it is. It is a good definition because it is constant and never changing but where did that number come from? Well very simply it is 1/40,000,000 the circumference of the earth at the equator(or at least as close as could be measured in 1791).
But whey 40,000,000 instead of 10,000,000? Did I not just say the metric system is all about powers of 10? Well there are 2 reasons for 40,000,000.
1) The alternate choice for the length of a meter was the length of a pendulum with a period of 1 sec. This was rejected because since gravitational pull is not constant every ware on earth the this length would not be either. How ever this length is almost exact the same as 1/40,000,000 the earths circumference at the equator.
2) The second is because officially it is “one ten-millionth the length of the earth's meridian along a quadrant” so it is actually still a power of 10
Volume:
Now that we know how to measure the between my house and parallax by road(2,970km) lets move on to how to measure all the water I will be drinking on this 31 hour drive. In the imperial system there is ounces(1), gill(5), pint(20), quart(40), and gallon(160). Ever wondered where these strange units come from? I have no clue where any of the smaller ones come but a gallon is based on the volume taken up by 10lb of distilled water at 62F when the barometer was at 30” of mercury. Ok so they thought this through a little but it is not a very convenient measurement.
In the metric system 1mL is the area taken up by 1 cubic cm. This is much more useful as it allows for easy conversions between a specific volume and a geometric shape of known dimensions.
Try this: How many pints does a 1x1x1 foot cube hold? 49.83068367. What a strange number. Also can you figure out how I got there?
Try this: How many liters does a 1x1x1 meter cube hold? 1000. Now that is a much nicer number. How did I get there? 1m=100cm so 100*100*100=1,000,000mL=1000L
Mass:
Ok so we can easily now figure out that the 1m cube in the back of my care holds 1000L of water way more then enough for a 31 hour drive. Lets figure out how much its mass is.
In the imperial system there is many units of Mass. Grain(1/7000), drachm(1/256), ounce(1/16), pound(1), stone(14), quarter(28), hundredweight(100), and ton(2000) as far as I know only the grain, ounce, pound, and ton are still used. I have no clue where this unit of measurement came from but it is not to useful in math. On the contrary the metric gram is the mass of 1 cubic cm of water. Now that is convenient. It means that as long as we are dealing with water we can convert both distance, volume and mass. So we know that my 1m cube would have a mass of 1000kg which is way more then I can lift and probably more then my little Vibe can hull.
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Comments
I know Canada uses imperial measures for things like quarts and gallons. Here it's different. Our everyday measures are based on the binary system:
····1 tsp. = 1 dram = 60 grains = 1/16 oz. (60, though not binary, has lots of factors.)
····4 oz. = 1 gill
····8 oz. = 1 cup
····16 oz. = 1 pt.
····32 oz. = 1 qt.
····128 oz. = 1 gal.
What a nice progression! As a computer person, it gives me goosebumps.
So 1cc of water weight a gram. So what? 1pt = 16oz. of water, which weighs 16oz. = 1lb. So easy to remember!
A foot has 12 inches. There's that 12 again: easy to divide into integral pieces. And inches can be halved and halved again — unless you're a printer, in which case 12 (once again) is the dominant denominator.
Now let's talk about Celsius: how unnatural to human experennce is that scale? Well, okay 0C is cold, but 0F is really cold. And 100C is inhumanly hot, but 100F would be a sweltering, but bearably hot day. So Fahrenheit ranges from 0 (really cold) to 100 (really hot) on a human scale. It's so easy for people to relate to. Why give it up?
The simple fact is this: the common person is neither a chemist nor a physicist. Most people rely on simple fractions, not decimals. The metric system is the ultimate product of the unfortunate fact that most people are born with ten fingers. At least our English forebears had the sense to realize the folly of basing a system of measurement on an accident of evolution and devised something more fractional (i.e. useful) than decimal. Then the Age of Reason had to come along and ruin it all, and nearly everyone, except we Americans, have swallowed it hook, line, and sinker.
-Phil
Edit: spelling
Post Edited (Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)) : 1/26/2010 8:11:59 AM GMT
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Can't think of any off the top of my head. Maybe PSI is still slightly more common than KPa.
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Life may be "too short", but it's the longest thing we ever do.
After I posted that, I recalled that the only person I knew from Australia was my uncle who was originally from England. So, he's not a good example to go by... I also remembered that they switched over to metric in the 1970s mostly and my thinking that they still had some Imperial usage was probably from the mid 80s (when I was in high school, and also when they probably still had hold outs using imperial for some things still). I keep forgetting that it's now been 30 years since 1980.
Anyway, I personally would much prefer everything switched to metric here in the US. Sure it would take a while to convert some things like manufacturing systems that produce imperial measured products (who wants to call it a 3.78541178 liter jug of milk, they probably want to go up to 4L or down to 3.5L). Think of all the road signs that need to be fixed (speed limit and distance signs on freeways). I think stuff like that is more the reason they hold it off than because they think we are dumb....
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nor dozens but 60s... which is how we measure time, except for the arbitrary roman calendar. Americans may be
getting dumber based on how they have one of the world's hardest languages to learn and yet as far as I know,
other countries have multilingual citizens often with English being the second language. Chinese may be an equally
hard language with no common structure... I don't know, although I have a Chinese language book I am interested
in learning someday. (don't make me say what day of the week comes before "someday"! Ok, that's "doomsday")
Ok Chinese, it is funny to read "engrish" instructions for operating the really inexpensive gadgets, but it suggests
an incompatibility with grammar. One thing I know about Chinese is the words have up to 4 meanings based on
how they are said, and I won't compare the phenomenon to gangsta ebonics which has that feature intentionally
for subtle reasons (according to what very very little I know about both languages).
Computer metrics are confused with International Metrics by being based on 10th powers of 2, that is...
1 byte:8 bits
2^10=1024 byte=KILOBYTE, but KILObit=128 bytes
2^20=1048576 byte=MEGABYTE, but MEGAbit=131072 Bytes or 128KiloBytes
2^30=GIGABYTE
World Metric System
Atto femto nano micro milli (uni) kilo mega giga tera peta exa
are based on increments of 10^3 instead, with no unexpected extras after the 1 and ,000,'s.
A cubic Decimeter of water weighs a Kilogram and equals one Liter of water
one volt pushes one amp through one ohm
one amp = one coulomb of electrons per second
the strange scaling of FARADS and HENRIES also relate directly to the Metric System,
If time were metric, it would be a sign of the end of the age, but if there were 10 hours...
A second would be close to a second
A minute would be 100 seconds
An hour would be 100 minutes
There would be 10 hours in a day.
hour 0= midnight
hour 2.5 = what we call 6AM
hour 5= noon
hour 7.5 = what we call 6 o clock in evening
Weeks and Months could by definition not be metric.
Months are lunar cycles. Although one way of measuring the lunar cycle makes it 29.53 days
(maybe new moon to new moon),
28 days makes the most sense, because there would be 13 months,
The first would always be ... OK, how about: ONESDAY!
TWOSDAY THREESDAY FOURSDAY FIFSDAY SIXDAY SEVENDAY! That's a week!
(compare to Monday... tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday sunday)
Every year would be a leap year and Every four years a double leap year.
30 days gives 12 months with 4 extra days, which is closer to the moon but very messy.
There is something about the equinoxes with the 4 week months, I forgot.
I suppose New Years should be 4 days before Christmas, Yuletide.
Enough with the silly calendar, which is stuck all messed up.
After Y2K they had to glitch the system by changing Daylight Saving Time;
they should have just switched to Universal Coordinate Time instead.
True local time is from a sundial, and true global time is from a sundial on the north and south pole.
The biblical "end of time" speaks of an eternity with no night, so sundials don't work.
Since the "glory of god" is the light of eternity, it may be interpreted as abundant electricity,
or a shift in vision that includes infrared, which doesn't go dark at night. He sits in a rainbow
of colors including those we have never seen before and can hardly imagine their qualia. Next metric.
Ice is zero 'C. Room comfort is 20'c/70'f 37'c is about 99'f (tongue temperature) 100'c/212'f boils water...
...at "1 earth atmosphere" of air pressure (average, at sea level).
Mercury freezes at -40'C which is also -40'F... probably coincidence.
I have to ask why about the temperature. 'C temperature is only a little more than half as precise as 'F.
Ice and Steam seem very arbitrary standards to me.
Kelvin and Rankine are the Celsius and Fahrenheit scales adjusted to meet at ABSOLUTE ZERO,
but again, the freezing mercury thing is bizarre.
There are 360 Babylonian or Sumerian degrees in a circle, or 2 pi radians. A radian is a unit radius. SO...
If you have one round pie that just fits on top of four square pies,
and you eat off the corners of the square pies around the round pie,
then how many pies do you have left? You have 2pi pies!
Pi is now known to be no more random than 0.123.
355/113 is plenty of pi for me.
Irrational numbers are good for keeping and accessing more data than can fit in a universe full of flash drives.
300,000 Kilometers per second is a good approximation of the speed of light.
Frequency and Wavelength therefore relate.
3-30MHZ=HF=100meters to 10 meters
30-300MHZ=VHF=10 meters to 1 meter
300-3000MHZ(3GHZ)=UHF=1 meter to 10 centimeters.
For reasons unknown to me, antenna wavelength =468/300 x radio wavelength.
The speed of light cannot be constant in an expanding universe.
If the truth was told, light has been experimentally slowed down and stopped,
and also, it has exceeded itself experimentally with obvious time reversal phenomena.
Doesn't light have different speed in water and air and glass? How does refraction happen?
Gravity has bent light so much that most of the stars in the sky were never where they
appear to be in telescopes! In deep space Hubble images, the furthest stars visible are,
obviously to me, grouped in linear patterns of three, and this tells me that their light has
gone around the whole universe three times before coming this way, and when the universe
was smaller, it must have. When I say those stars were never there, I mean that they
all were once (relatively speaking) RIGHT HERE when the universe was small enough for
starlight to go around it three times. It may be so that there are no other galaxies, and
the light from this one is orbiting it like a comet. Once the microwave image beyond the
visible universe was visible here as Light, if we could go back in time to see it.
At some time, the image of the universe turned inside out, since the farthest things we can
see, we must agree, were never where they appear to be now, nor do they still exist, but
are a mirror image, a mirage, of one place where everything came from.
That last paragraph is for all the recent deep thinkers here. TMI?
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VIRAND, If you spent as much time SPINNING as you do Trolling the Forums,
you'd have tons of awesome code to post! (Note to self)
The other memory that sticks in my mind (aside from the Hooters waitresses who would continue to buy me drinks as long as I kept talking to them in my "cute little accent") is sitting at a bar in Dallas with this guy who was insistent that Texas was so big the globe revolved around *it* (I don't think he'd traveled much).
Imperial / Metric, not a real issue, except for NASA for some reason [noparse];)[/noparse]
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Life may be "too short", but it's the longest thing we ever do.
But you will seriously have to give me some tips about the Hooters girls... LOL
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Alex Burke
"It is not how smart you are rather, it is how you are smart." -Jon Campbell
Post Edited (IRobot2) : 1/26/2010 2:46:54 PM GMT
For me things are mixed (I think I mentioned it before....). In Argentina, where I come from, we use the metric system, yeah. Screws are sold in... inches (you can also get metric ones, maybe). Water pipes ? inches. (for anything below 30 or 40 mm). TV screens ? (and computer ones) inches. Marmalade ? pounds!... (they say nowadays 454g!) there are other examples. The rest is metric, distances, weights, amounts of liquids and so on. All that remains from the time where most things were imported from the UK.
Here in Germany they use the metric system for everything... so that TV how many inches does it have again ? (they are in cm normally). 57 cm ?... no idea how much is it (in inches
Btw, many people that only lived in the federal district (around 200 km^2) wonders if there is a country and if it is the same beyond its border...
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Visit some of my articles at Propeller Wiki:
MATH on the propeller propeller.wikispaces.com/MATH
pPropQL: propeller.wikispaces.com/pPropQL
pPropQL020: propeller.wikispaces.com/pPropQL020
OMU for the pPropQL/020 propeller.wikispaces.com/OMU
Although I agree with you........I am an American.
I was taught the metric system, and I have used it a lot.
The great thing about the metric system is how one unit of measurement directly converts to many others (not always the case...but many times). Like cc's converts to ml.
There are many times I design with metric....instead of imperial just for those reasons.
But, you should note......imperial is not necessarily "American". We got it from that other place we moved out of.
Hey....you want to have some fun.....work on a 90's model American Pickup. You will need both sets of wrenches (spanners for some of you). It's a roll of the dice whether the bolt will be metric or imperial. Not fun at all.
James L
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James L
Partner/Designer
Lil Brother SMT Assembly Services
Are you addicted to technology or Micro-controllers..... then checkout the forums at Savage Circuits. Learn to build your own Gizmos!
Ha......
You know why we still have gallons......because we do not want to pay the European price for litres (petrol, gasoline, gas, diesel).
And we do typically consume a large amount of milk in the US (dairy in general).
James L
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James L
Partner/Designer
Lil Brother SMT Assembly Services
Are you addicted to technology or Micro-controllers..... then checkout the forums at Savage Circuits. Learn to build your own Gizmos!
Seriously though, last weekend I went to the hardware store in need of a new tape measurer. I specifically wanted one that had inches as well as centimetres, and all that I could find with their "promotional hanging" of tape measures in various locations throughout the store were in inches only. I finally had to ask someone where their tape measures were ... as the guy pointed to one of the various promotional racks ... "No, where is your section that specifically has tape measures, I'm looking for one with inches and centimetres." ... If I could have taken a picture of this guys face ... sort of a deer in the headlights look ... it would have been priceless.
I soon realized after looking at the various tape measures, that a cm/in tape measurer was clearly in the minority. I never dreamed it would be such a task to find a stupid $8 tape measurer.... Ughhh.
They even had ones that displayed inches with 1/64th ticks as a 'standard', but on the same tape measurer they displayed 1/8ths ... before I told the guy to leave (after saying thank you) he mentioned "The 1/8ths are for people that have problems figuring out the marks" ... C'mon!!! I mean literally in addition to the 'unnamed' 1/64th inch ticks, on the bottom side it had printed ... 1/8 1/4 3/8 1/2 5/8 3/4 7/8 ... Geez!!
And then there were some that had 1/10th of an inch marks ... Ok what is that Engli-Metric? or Metric-lish?
...Ok, so I could sort of see how that might be useful, but I'll stick with cm/in thank you.
Anyway.... Grrrrr!!!!
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Beau Schwabe
IC Layout Engineer
Parallax, Inc.
Post Edited (Beau Schwabe (Parallax)) : 1/26/2010 4:11:31 PM GMT
James I do not claim the Americans invented imperial. Just that they are the only to not yet abandon officialy.
Milk here comes in .25, .5, 1, 2, and 4l
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LOL....Beau.....your killing me.
The only tape measure I have ever found with both inches and cm was a 26 foot Craftsman (you know Sears brand......). Not one of those skinny ones either. It was pricey.
@Matt.......oh you are just saying we fear change, and never let go of the past..........
James L
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James L
Partner/Designer
Lil Brother SMT Assembly Services
Are you addicted to technology or Micro-controllers..... then checkout the forums at Savage Circuits. Learn to build your own Gizmos!
DJ
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Well...i somewhat agree with Phil, except for the "accident of evolution".
I am personally glad I have opposed digits.
If I didn't I wouldn't be able to open a door very well.
James L
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James L
Partner/Designer
Lil Brother SMT Assembly Services
Are you addicted to technology or Micro-controllers..... then checkout the forums at Savage Circuits. Learn to build your own Gizmos!
Is Canada really a country?· Is it a Republic, a Dominion, or just, well...·Canada?· What do they do for anybody anyway?
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If you have not already. Add yourself to the prophead map
Husky makes a 1 inch wide 5 meter for $8 with rare earth magnets on the cleat. The magnets are handy for telescoping the tape measure to grab a dropped bolt, nut, etc. in a hard to reach area.
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Beau Schwabe
IC Layout Engineer
Parallax, Inc.
Cm and inches on top inches only on bottom
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24 bit LCD Breakout Board now in. $24.99 has backlight driver and touch sensitive decoder.
If you have not already. Add yourself to the prophead map
-Phil
Then they asked it I wanted to go to the pub so they could buy me a pint.
Yes, they buy their gas by the liter and beer by the pint.
Oh, and they paid for liter about what I would pay for a gallon of gasoline.
Bean
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Use BASIC on the Propeller with the speed of assembly language.
PropBASIC thread http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=867134·
I find that '0' for ice makes perfect sense.
(It's actually a triple. Water freezes to ice when you get below this temperature, and melts at above the temperature, and if you happen to be in a near vacuum - 1/166 BAR - well, it's gasseus. Not all elements even melt/freeze at close to the same temperatures)
100 degrees for boiling. This also makes a good amount of sense, as this too is an 'easily observed state', and if boiled in an open container, it will tend to stay close to that temperature.
(If you're being sensible with the heat)
As for Americans using Gallon jugs of milk. I believe that's a combination of two factors:
1. A love of sugary cereals, and...
2. Not so much respect for how they treat the milk.
(In most countries they pasteurize and homogenize the milk - basically, heat it while stirring - which will give you about a week's worth of time to drink it, but if you add preservatives... )
Anyway, want to add more chaos?
DIPs have 2.54mm distances between pins.
And the distance from pins of one side to the other is a multiple of that distance)
Everyone 'knows' that an inch is 25.4mm, right?
Well, I've seen rulers where it was 26.3mm.
(That's one Norwegian inch. That's right, we're so big that we needed a bigger scale... )
When learning carpentry, I was told to 'Buy Norwegian, sell Swedish' as the Swedish inch is smaller than an Imperial inch.
BTW: there's more than one Ton...
Depending on whether you're measuring weight, volume, cargo capacity, force...
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Don't visit my new website...
They also have made a few very nice robotic arms.
With the exception of some issues in some of the French speaking areas, I've personally found Canada a very nice place to visit, with great people.
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John R.
Click here to see my Nomad Build Log
1mm is equal to what???
1 meter is = to what???
and so on I know a mm is small but how what size is it equal to 1/4 inch ?
I always get confused
but I do a lot of mechanical work and everything is metric I am pretty good at looking at bolts and telling if its a 8mm or 3/8 10mm or 7/16 or 1/2 or 12 or 13 but when it comes to measuring length I don't really have the down yet
the metrics are very close to the American cousins
8mm 3/8
11mm is almost a fit for 7/16
13mm is almost a perfect fit for 1/2
14mm is kinda close to a 9/16 when a bolt gets worn a 9/16 for example you can pound a 14 on it and get it off same for 15 and 5/8 lol
Lol. There was controversy here recently in Oz when McDonalds shrunk their buns from 4 1/2" to 4" "to bring them inline with international standards", yet only made the burgers 5c cheaper. I had to idea our buns were (previously) bigger... its logistically difficult to compare them side by side.
Despites occasional threats of jail, we seem to retain the imperial system just fine here. Trying to get metric fasteners in the monopolistic hardware chain "Bunnings" is difficult - 1/4", 3/8", 1/2" BSW, and 8g-14g screws are the norm. We still build our stud walls from bits of "4 be 2" (4 x 2", actually 90x45mm after dressing).
We might be gradually solving these issues by adopting the "MCG" as our universal unit for everything. Its our cricket stadium, but is used for measuring volume ("enough landfill to fill the MCG seven times over"), quantity (it holds 100,000 souls), length (160 metres), etc.
Can anyone explain to me how "mils" in pcb design won out over "thou", which seems to make a whole lot more sense?
tubular
Post Edited (Tubular) : 1/26/2010 8:31:15 PM GMT
*** "sometime in the 1980s" ***· I guess nobody's sure?· I think you guys should have kept the Red Ensign.
Post Edit -- Liquor is bottled metric.· No more quarts, just 750ml.· (I don't know what they do with anything less.· Still "fifths"?)
Post Edited (PJ Allen) : 1/26/2010 11:46:59 PM GMT
Are 1.6km mile markers suppose to make it easier to figure out how far one has traveled? No wonder We don't want to change.
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The Truth is out there············___$WMc%___···························· BoogerWoods, FL. USA
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The Truth is out there············___$WMc%___···························· BoogerWoods, FL. USA
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24 bit LCD Breakout Board now in. $24.99 has backlight driver and touch sensitive decoder.
If you have not already. Add yourself to the prophead map