Metric or Imperial??

[monkeykoder]

We are so NOT touchy I can PROVE it...

 

[Lisa B]

Imperial mints.

For everything else, there's mastercard.

 

[ferny]

Herald - Imperial
Acclaim - Metric
Morris - Whitworth


I prefer metric but imperial is more precise.

 

[monkeykoder]

Herald - Imperial
Acclaim - Metric
Morris - Whitworth


I prefer metric but imperial is more precise.

Maybe for screw threads but none of the systems are any more precise than any of the other systems it depends on the person using the instruments and their precision.

 

[dklod]

I prefer metric but imperial is more precise.

Not sure one is more accurate than the other. The machine I operate can be adjusted to remove 0.000001 of a mm. Not that we need that kind of accuracy (0.01 most tools are adjusted to, polishers adjust themselves to 6 decimal places), but I remember when I was building an engine, I had to get 20thou oversized big end bearings, 40thou oversized mains, and 40thou oversized pistons. Dont quote me, its been 15 years, but I think 20thou is 1mm. So when using thousandths of an inch, its a very small size so you are not wrong.

 

[monkeykoder]

Like I said any unit can be used to any precision you want. Although technically there are metric "units" to cover these cases...

 

[Garbz]

Metric for everything larger than 0.5mm and imperial for everything smaller. Saying 10mils is easier than 0.245mm. Can you tell i'm an engineer who deals with small circuits? :geek:

 

[usayit]

Growing up in the U.S. I have a better concept of Imperial and can visualize it much better than metric. Kinda like working but non-fluent second language... you have a tendency to listen, process, and mentally translate to your first language.

But

Metric makes a hella lot more sense and I do wish I had a better mental grasp of visualizing it.

Garbz, doesn't it still come down to what you are used to... right? In your industry, they could have easily used 10^-6 (micro) or 10^-9 (nano) for measurements. IMO, what it comes down to is the popularity of one over the other in any particular study or industry. The same reason my industry uses Metric and Architectural industry use Imperial.... The same reason why I cannot visual Metric lengths but I have a firm understanding of metric sizes of storage for computers... simply because storage was defined within metric units and adopted early (byte, kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte, terabyte, etc).

 

[Helen B]

I'm used to both sets of units, though I find some better for some purposes than others. I couldn't judge an area in hectares, but acres come naturally - an area one chain wide and one furlong (furrow length) long. Many Imperial units have a physical size that is just right for their particular use.

SI hasn't even been mentioned in this thread so far. Metric units used logically.

"(mass in slugs)=(weight in pounds)/(32ft/(s^2))"

Hmm. Don't you mean

(mass in slugs)=(weight in pounds force)/(32ft/(s^2))

A slug is that mass which is accelerated at 1 ft/s2 by a force of 1 pound force. The pound, like the kilogram (no capital), is a unit of mass.

Best,
Helen

 

[ferny]

Not sure one is more accurate than the other. The machine I operate can be adjusted to remove 0.000001 of a mm. Not that we need that kind of accuracy (0.01 most tools are adjusted to, polishers adjust themselves to 6 decimal places), but I remember when I was building an engine, I had to get 20thou oversized big end bearings, 40thou oversized mains, and 40thou oversized pistons. Dont quote me, its been 15 years, but I think 20thou is 1mm. So when using thousandths of an inch, its a very small size so you are not wrong.

Your engine example was the sort of thing I was talking about. Most people can't and won't measure any smaller than 1mm at home.

 

[mrodgers]

At work I process pound of material at psi of pressure and centigrade of temperature. We measure results in grams per liter and joules per gram, then mold the material in pounds per cubic foot but weigh the parts in grams then cure the parts in the oven at F temperature. We are all over the place. Some parts are dimensionally measured in mm and some are measured in inches, depending on the product.

I can not drive in kph, I can't make the connection. Nor can I calculate my fuel mileage in km/100 L or whatever you guys across the pond do. It must be in MPG for it to register any understanding.

I buy Pepsi in 12 oz cans, 20 oz bottles, or 2 liter bottles. Milk comes in only gallons. A steak isn't a steak unless it's an 18 oz. 1 inch slab of medium rare juicy tasty hunk of cow grilled over an open flame or Kingsford charcoal.

My first car had a 200 cubic inch motor, but since that car, all others have been in liters (1.6, 2.4, 3.0.....). I can tell you what a 289, 302, 305, 327, 350, 400, 427, or 454 motor is but can't tell you what they are in liters (except the 302 is 4.9 L) without needing to calculate the conversion. I can also recognise a 1.6, 2.0, 2.4, 2.8, 3.0, 3.4, 3.8, and 4.0 L motor, but couldn't tell you what they were in cubic inches without calculating the conversion.

So, I use everything and what is used depends on what is being measured.

 

[clarinetJWD]

Why the hell not it is the best major ever you actually learn things that are TRUE!!!!

Posted under Creative Commons license from XKCD

Also: We (the US) need to just go cold turkey and scrap the imperial system. THere would be measurement confusion for a few years, but eventually we'd be able to communicate to the rest of the world without converters...

 

[BoblyBill]

Why the hell not it is the best major ever you actually learn things that are TRUE!!!!

amen...

Posted under Creative Commons license from XKCD

Also: We (the US) need to just go cold turkey and scrap the imperial system. THere would be measurement confusion for a few years, but eventually we'd be able to communicate to the rest of the world without converters...

LOL... love the sketch... We should go cold turkey... I hate that I think in imperial... metric is way easier...

 

[LaFoto]

Purely metric here.
Can't make head nor tail out of baby measurements when the babies were born in Britain, the States or Australia. Neither weight nor length. All I can ask back is "Would that be considered 'normal'?" When the answer is "Yes, pretty average", I get the idea.
I have more of an idea of what temps in Fahrenheit are as compared to our Celsius-grades. But once we enter the field of cubic measurements, I'm totally lost when someone gives me an imperial measurement.

 

[monkeykoder]

I'm used to both sets of units, though I find some better for some purposes than others. I couldn't judge an area in hectares, but acres come naturally - an area one chain wide and one furlong (furrow length) long. Many Imperial units have a physical size that is just right for their particular use.

SI hasn't even been mentioned in this thread so far. Metric units used logically.

"(mass in slugs)=(weight in pounds)/(32ft/(s^2))"

Hmm. Don't you mean

(mass in slugs)=(weight in pounds force)/(32ft/(s^2))

A slug is that mass which is accelerated at 1 ft/s2 by a force of 1 pound force. The pound, like the kilogram (no capital), is a unit of mass.

Best,
Helen

Interesting I've never used the pound as a unit of mass... I was always taught it is a unit of force and it was only used as such (of course in school I think I only ever used the imperial system in maybe 20 problems... out of probably thousands...)