Metrication at NASA, and T. Rex Bones

[claidheamhmor]

Metric:
Here's an interesting article on the lack of metrication at NASA:
NASA criticised for sticking to imperial units

The whole issue of Metrication in the United States is pretty interesting; I wasn't aware the US used such a mish-mash of systems. The one that surprises me is the construction industry: managing conversions between different Imperial units and handling of areas and volumes must be nightmarish compared to metric.

Here's a map from Wikipedia showing the countries not using the metric system (they're in red):

Scientific Controversies:
And on an unrelated note, quite an interesting article on the collagen found in a fossilised Tyrannosaurus Rex femur, and the controversies it engendered:
Origin of Species: How a T. Rex Femur Sparked a Scientific Smackdown

Comments

[evildmguy.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think metric is official in the US but no one used them and refused to switch. So, the gov't stopped trying. I don't have a cite for it, though, so it might be a rumor. I will look for it.

I do think the Federal government uses it, as I have an architect friend who has done work for them and talked about it.

edg

[claidheamhmor]

I do think you're right about it being a standard for the Federal government.

[redqueenmeg.livejournal.com]

I work for a government contractor that does a lot of engineering work and never even hear anyone mention the word metric. It's possible the metric system is in use deep within some of the top secret engineering departments, but when they come out with products they tell us how long they are in feet or inches and what their range is in miles and things like that.

I don't believe metric use is officially mandated here in any way but that in some places it is officially encouraged, whatever that means.

I think also that the "it's easier" argument has kind of gone by the wayside since unfortunately I'd be willing to bet that most people in the US do not understand the decimal system at all.

[claidheamhmor]

I think the construction and engineering fields have a lot of inertia, largely to do with the materials and standards used; for example, wood, tiles, beams, and suchlike would all be specced in commonly used units, and also, there's a lot of interaction between different companies, making it hard to change a standard.

[redqueenmeg.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and frankly there's not a lot of incentive for us to change stuff. Really. :)

[claidheamhmor]

I suspect not; the major reason seems to be related to international trade.

I don't envy those who have to measure construction materials in Imperial though; my dad, who worked as an estimator in the construction industry, worked in Imperial units for a while when South Africa switched to metric, and he told me it was quite a hassle going from areas to volumes in feet and inches (concrete volumes, for example).

[redqueenmeg.livejournal.com]

Seriously!

I do like using feet and inches to measure a person's height. It would be boring as F to reach "one meter" and know you were never going to get to "two meters" even, whereas you can get far more milestones using feet! :)

For example, Len is now more than two feet taller than he was when he was born.

[claidheamhmor]

A lot of people here - especially slightly older generations - still use feet for height, but the current generations at school don't; they're all "1.6 metres" or "180cm".

[ubet-cha.livejournal.com]

When I was a kid, then Presidents Ford & Carter launched a program to drive the country to the metric system. Obviously it failed miserably most people here don't know how much a kilogram weighs or that a dime is 1 mm think.

Anyway it never really bothered me until I began taking physics in college, all of a sudden the metric system not only made sense it was relevant!

Don't see it happening here though, not yet.

[claidheamhmor]

No, I suspect the US has a massive amount of inertia when is comes to the idea of switching the whole country over.

[ubet-cha.livejournal.com]

Actually its worse then passive inertia. There’s a lot of active resentment there. I’ve argued with friends of mine that work in construction ( Stonemasons and Sprinkler fitters) about it. They think there is absolutely no reason to move to the metric system as its for foreigners and we don’t want it here.

I’m always dumbfounded by that discussion.

In Engineering the comment was, “ Well our customers want English units.”.

[seawasp]

I use metric units (mostly) in my SF work, but English/Imperial for fantasy. For myself, it's the old-fashioned every time; metrics are somewhat easier to use (though that's increasingly irrelevant with omnipresent computing), but I get no sense of meaning from metric units. I have no feel for how big something seven meters long is until I translate it to being something over 21 feet long.

[claidheamhmor]

I also use Imperial for fantasy gaming, but I guess that's because that's the way the game systems come. It does seem to give it more of a "medieval" flavour though.

Because of that, I can easily think in common Imperial units like feet, inches, pounds and miles. Others, like furlongs, rods, hundredweights, ounces, and stones stymie me though.

I can convert Fahrenheit to Celsius in my head, but I don't really have a feel for Fahrenheit, apart from knowing that 32F is cold and 100F is fuckin' hot.

[seawasp]

Furlongs, rods, hundredweights, and stones are not used here except in some very limited areas (deeds to land are still commonly using rods, chains, and links). Ounces are just pound-subdivisions, like grams to kilograms. One ounce is 1/16th of a pound or about 27 grams.

32F is cool. Cold is -20F. BFC is -40F (which is the same in degrees C, too)

100F is pretty damn hot (though that also depends on humidity; I'd rather be in a dry desert 100 degrees than an Albany NY 85-90 degrees.). The range in temperature here (Albany/Troy New York) over a year is from roughly -20/25 up to +100F, or in Celsius from about -30 to +38C.

[claidheamhmor]

Ouch, that's quite a temperature range! We typically range from 0C (32F) to about 32C (90F), with the very occasional (once or twice per season) drop below 0C or rise above 32C.

On the downside, because the climate is so temperate, we're not geared for temperature extremes. No central heating, no decently insulated homes, and not many homes with any sort of air conditioning. So when things get cold, we wear extra clothes, use more blankets, haul out the gas/electric heaters, and shiver a lot.

[seawasp]

You want a temperature range, you go to midcontinent. In South Dakota, where I lived for a while, that would be from -40 (F or C) to +110 (43C).

If it CAN get to freezing, I'd insist on a real heating system. And if it CAN get to the 90s, I'd insist on an air conditioner. Just because I *CAN* endure the extremes doesn't mean I *want* to, and as a modern technological being I don't think I should have to.

[mynameisnotreal.livejournal.com]

A quick way to go back and forth is to do this.

F to C: Take away thirty, and half of that.

C to F: Double C and add 30.

Another neat trick when converting MPH to KPH in your head, for a quick estimate, is take half of the kilometers and ad everything in the original number minus the last digit.

For example:

300,000 kilometers

Half of it is 150,000

Add everything except the last digit

150,000 + 30,000 = 180,000 Miles.

This is easy for me to remember as it's the speed of light.

C = 186,000 MPS or 300,000 KPS

[claidheamhmor]

Those are pretty neat conversion tricks!

[mynameisnotreal.livejournal.com]

Just quick ways to get general ideas. When you live across the river from a supposed Metric country, you need them on occasion.

Oh. And as for Canada? I can buy a gallon on milk, a pound of nails, carpet by the yard and a car that has good mileage.

[windrider-09.livejournal.com]

Amazing that the US shares the honour of not keeping up with the rest of the world with regimes it protests against.

I have gotten used to the Imperial system in books, but having grown up with the metric system, it is easier for me to imagine 7meters down vs calculating 21 feet.