Inches or millimetres ?

Ha ha. When I was working as a tech at a university electronics shop, the pencil pushers decreed that all time cards were to be filled out in tenths of hours from now on. To make the acounting for time more accurate and save money.

We all commented that this was indeed kind of lame. The shop manager concurred, and said, "just round them *up* to the nearest 0.5 hour." I think he might have also said 'f*ck-em' but then might have been my trick ear.

Jim

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Reply to
jim rozen
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What many people forget is that metric isn't based on anything more accurate than English measurements are. They laugh when they say a yard is from nose to fingers or a foot is a, well, foot.

A 1 ten millionth (or whatever) fraction of the earth's circumference surely isn't any more accurate?

And, by the way, have you been keeping your clocks updated with all the leap seconds that have been added?

Reply to
Jim K

No we havent forgotten it. In fact I tell my students all the time about the original basis for the meter. Thats not the piont. The point is how all the different units fit together in a simple and logical system. If you just want to use a single unit by itself, it makes no difference if you callet it inch meter och gooddlely. But is there any sence in having a multitude of different units for length inch, foot, yard, mile, and so on. Lets stick to one (meter). (Dont tell me millimeters and meters are different units, they are not) What annoys me is that bicycles have a few inch units in them still, meaning I have to get an extra set of taps and dies (metal content) Henning

Reply to
henning

original basis for the meter. Thats not the piont. The point is how all the different units

unit by itself, it makes no difference if you callet it inch meter och gooddlely. But is

foot, yard, mile, and so on. Lets stick to one (meter). (Dont tell me millimeters and meters

have to get an extra set of taps and dies (metal content)

The thing that realy BUGGS me is the use of the MKS or CGS systems Why in the name of didn' they at least be consistent and use the REAL UNITS ie. Meter Gram Those are the UNITS not some multiple. ...lew...

Reply to
Lewis Hartswick

But Lew, the standard mass unit (kilogram) is an actual platinum-rhodium cylinder... come on, if you're starting a standard, and you're French, why would you be stuck with a teensy gram of the stuff? Gotta be the bigger one! ;-)

Tim

-- "I have misplaced my pants." - Homer Simpson | Electronics,

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Reply to
Tim Williams

We in New Zealand chanced to metric in 1966. As a shop teacher I had to learn fast. All inch rules were withdrawn and we were supplied with metric graduated dials for all machine tools. No youngsters of today have heard of inches and if they have, dont understand what they are.

I tried an experiment the other day, I tried to tell present day students about the imperial system. They just could not comprehend that anyone would be stupid enough to have yards divided by 3 to give feet divided by 12 to give inches and inches divided into eights etc. It just appeared completly illogical. I did not tell them that after nearly 40 years I still use imperial micrometers as that is what I got used to as a youngster and I can visulise thousandths of an inch better than the 2 hundrenths of a mm it equals. I guess I am just too lazy to practice and get used to it.

Reply to
Doug

I remember in the '70s when they tried to convert us and failed miserably. I learned to machine in inches and I also learned how to convert. I would have no problem changing but almost all my customers deal in inches. I have had a few loons come in and try to tell me that metric is more accurate or better. These false statements taught to the kids annoy me. People are amazed when I tell them that the meter is based on the circumference of the earth and that they got it wrong. I believe for the good of AMERICA's future we probably should change. But the rebel in me remembers what my mother use to say, "Just because so and so jumps off a bridge doesn't mean you have to". Neal

Reply to
Neal

Since 1983 a meter is a 1/299'792'458 of the distance light travels in one second. And by the way, one second is is the duration of 9'192'631'770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom. So it is more accurate... well, I admit you can't check it out by yourself, you have to belive some scientist's work...

Reply to
Reto

How about using the giga gram as a standard and see how many people borrow your standard mass, and forget where it came from. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

Reply to
Gerald Miller

^^^ Originally it was three barley corns end-to-end. They are a reasonably regular natural um, seed?

Tim

-- "I have misplaced my pants." - Homer Simpson | Electronics,

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Reply to
Tim Williams

Funny thing I heard, is they are having to teach kids the imperial measurement system in school again. Too many troubles dealing with legacy issues, like the fact that about 1/3 of Canada (or so) is laid out on a 1 mile by 2 mile grid, and then there's the blueprints for that heritage house rebuild, that nobody can understand....:-) The imperial measures will never completely go away, so everybody might just as well learn both. It always astonishes me to hear people that spend so much time learning new, usefull skills, start frothing at the mouth when asked to deal with something as simple as the metric system. It's simple enough to convert, if you must.

Cheers Trevor Jones

Reply to
Trevor Jones

There may well be a "standard" kilogram but it isn't THE UNIT. By definition a kilo of something is 1000 of the units. The French, Go figure. :-) ...lew...

Reply to
Lewis Hartswick

Surprise: the inch seem to be defined as a multiple of the meter... (from

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(international) inch has been exactly 25.4 mm since July 1959. At this point in time the (international) yard was redefined as 0.9144 metre - until this time the ratio between the US yard and the metre was different to the ratio between the UK yard and the metre. For more information see Engineering Metrology by K J Hume (2 ed) Macdonald London 1967. The American inch changed by 2 millionths of an inch and the UK inch by 1.7 millionths of an inch. The international inch falls mid way between the old UK and US inch. Which inch are you using today?...

Reply to
Reto

Wrong The UNIT for mass is the kilogram. Yes I know it litterally means 1000 gram but that is still the case. Silly yes, but never the less... As for the inch either being 3 seeds or a number of millimeters, thats totally whacky Henning

Reply to
henning

- The current official definition is 25.4 milimeters (2.54cm, etc...). That's because USA, like the lot of 'em, is officially metric. We just kept imperial because we'z teh lazy.

Tim

-- "I have misplaced my pants." - Homer Simpson | Electronics,

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Reply to
Tim Williams

OH NO! My 1958 guage blocks are off by 1 millionth!

Oh well, I'll heat 'em in the palm of my hand for a second... there we go.

;-)

Tim (now if only I had any blocks)

-- "I have misplaced my pants." - Homer Simpson | Electronics,

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Reply to
Tim Williams

It was re-defined some years ago to be _exactly_ 0.0254meters.

Ted

Reply to
Ted Edwards

And the meter/metre has been redefined a number of times:

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Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

but that is still the case. Silly yes, but never the less...

Hate to fight but the Gram is the basis. Si made the KG the unit = 1. since they use MKS.

Science uses what it needs. Often I work in cm due to the physical size and the speed of light in cm/s is no big deal when one considers 186,000 Miles/s (assume statue :-) )

The MKS system Meter, Kilogram, Second system. The CGS system Centimeter, gram, second.

There are others - FPS - foot pound second.

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

but that is still the case. Silly yes, but never the less...

they use MKS.

the speed of light

The cgs system is not to be used anymore, today the mks is the standard we are to follow. Of course the conversion from cgs to mks is just a matter of getting a few decimal points right. Its very rare here to see any use of the centimeter in technical or scientific areas today, but it is very much alive in everyday use, it is a handy size (same as the inch is, in fact a lot of carpenters here still use inches for planks and nails) hate to say it but the old swedish inch is different from the uk and us one. sigh henning

Reply to
henning

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