How old is the imperial system

He WAS yelling most of the time, and rightfully so. Note his shift to lower case occasionally. I think am and pm really came about more because the suns zenith was the most obviousvand fool proof way to determine time way back when.

Mechanical clocks being woefully fickle. The month day year thing is beacause we in the usa say the month first, date second and year last, its not wrong, just different.

Why is this old post up again? Still guess the OP cannot multiply 16x14 to work out ounces in a stone. This comment is hidden. Click here to view. This is a really lame story though. Just a low key reson to hate on America. A simple app on your phone that can convert measurements and problem solved for both sides. Why would someone use the ridiculous metric system? Is a base 10 derived from how many fingers and toes we have. If we were smart, we'd be on a base 12 already. It's why in Canada inches is still preferred in construction as it's a crude form of base Fahrenheit is based in relation to humans, not water.

I'd much rather like to know the temperature relative to myself than to water. Care to guess? It's the temperature of brine. Equal parts water, ice and salt How is that based off the human body? Measuring body temperature is only one application of a temperature scale among many.

And the guy didn't even get it right, he had slight fever when he invented his system xD. And water boils at degrees. Well at least no one uses Kelvin where the zero is actually the absolute zero- it was something like in Celsius. I don't understand the replies here And no, I'm not American, my country uses centigrade, and yes, I'm a scientist, I work with measurements in a variety of contexts.

The comments saying that water makes sense because "our bodies are made of water" are I don't understand how you people function on a day to day basis if you believe that your body freezes solid at 0 degrees Celsius.

Your body is closer to brine than to water. Fahrenheit is literally just a different scale, no more or less valid than centigrade is. Rola is right, the weather is the most common day-to-day use of temperature scales.

So like, step back, you people are so unbelievably over-the-top. Take some Valium ffs. I still don't understand why we don't just convert to the metric system like the rest of the world. And school systems aren't teaching it for some reason? Considering the fact that the rest of the world uses metric, you'd think it'd be a priority to teach it to school children.

They started teaching metric in US schools in the seventies I remember being excited about how much easier it was going to be, it was simple and universal. We all become proficient quickly The metric initiative disappeared, around the same time as the pet rock.

We just couldn't handle the beautiful logic and simplicity I guess. Too busy teaching the earth is flat, years old and the sun revolves around the earth. Oh, and vaccines cause autism. America's priorities are so messed up, the metric system isn't even on their radar. Coming from an American who never learned the Metric system in school. Ps though I primarily use imperial measurements in my home life, as an American jeweler I use metric every day.

I was amazed when my adult jewelry students had no concept of how long a millimeter was. Certainly a teachable moment!

I was in elementary school in the 70s and they did teach us the metric system in school then. But that was under the Carter Democrat administration. When Reagan Republican came into office, his administration killed the program that taught kids metric because 'Murica!

I am proficient in both systems but I constantly decry the idiocy of hanging on to this antiquated Imperial system. Apparently multiplying by 10 is too difficult for my fellow Americans.

You confuse us with "cups" as a unit of measurement. We have tea-cups, coffee cups, mugs and now teeny expresso cups. All different sizes. What is half a cup?? Metric IS taught in school. Just like we still say the pledge of allegiance every day. Unless you are actually IN a school every day like I am , please stop spreading these untruths. Nurses and doctors use metrics, and ratio and proportions. And you do use them. And I was a nurse! Especially science. Metric is taught in every US school, so we can pity the rest of the world for their sad, sterile, practical way of measuring everything.

We were all set to switch. President Jimmy Carter instigated it in the late 70s with highways posted in metric as well as imperial. TV stations nationwide aired PSAs. Our school district introduced elementary students to the idea by giving real-world comparisons a centimeter is about as wide as your pinkie , and a full-on assembly in junior high complete with cheesy skits.

Then Ronald Reagan was elected in , reversed the decision, and seemingly nobody in DC has brought it up since. Science classes will teach in metric units, weights and volumes on food packaging are printed for both systems, as well as on various measuring tools, and I know that's what my daughter works with as an engineer, so we are exposed to metric; it just flies under the radar. I remember Canada switching over in the 70s, before that I remember my dad buying gas on vacation in "Imperial gallons".

It's been brought up in D. There's lots of whining and crying about the cost of switching everything and nobody wants to spend the money on it. I mean, it'd be nice to switch obviously, but it's not that easy. I'm sure that we'll get to it eventually, but right now we have a LOT of things that have a higher priority right now. For example, gun control and healthcare two of the big ones!

Napoleon prolly did not conquer your country in the late s to early s? That's how we got it. Because tradition. Every other country that converted from Imperial to Metric and there's a lot of them have coped with the switch.

Much of science and engineering, at least, already uses it as they have to when working with virtually every other country. It needs planning and yes, time, but it can be done :. Been living in the US for 4 months.

Tried buying a ruler or a tape measure with both inches and centimetres. What are the disadvantages of the imperial system? Why is the imperial system based on 12? How old is the imperial system? What body part is the metric system based upon? How did they come up with the metric system? Why is the metric system based on the number 10? Is the metric system based on water? Is the metric system more accurate? What are the pros and cons of the metric system? What is the difference between the metric system and the US standard system?

How do you explain metric system? What came first imperial or metric? Previous Article What was the material of the first Sumerian houses?

Next Article How old is Lisa Presley? Back To Top. While the rest of the world uses the metric system, the U. Under the Imperial system, weight is measured in pounds.

Each pound is made up of 16 ounces and an ounce is made up of 16 drams. For length, the standard unit is a mile. This can be divided up into eight furlongs , made up of yards each or yards in a mile. A yard is made up of 3 feet , and each foot is made up of 12 inches. These have their roots in local traditions within the British Isles, and there are many similar examples across the Imperial System.

After all, if you can execute your king and rebuild all the institutions of the state, surely you can decide whether a system of measurement is the most efficient.

One kilometer can be broken down into one thousand meters m , which consists of centimeters cm , which are made up of 10 millimeters mm. With the rise of Napoleon and his domination of Europe, the metric system spread throughout the continent and eventually to the rest of the world. Although Britain was a hold-out against Napoleon, it has adopted some parts of the metric system.

Road signs in Britain still give distances in miles, although many Brits particularly younger ones are more comfortable working in the metric system than the imperial system. In , the General Conference on Weights and Measures was the first major international attempt to standardize measurements on a global scale. It also updated measurement units and creates new ones as the need requires. As well as length and weight meters and kilograms, respectively , SI units also include standardized values for electric current ampere , light intensity candela and amount of a substance mole.

In the fourteenth century, English king Edward II standardized the size of an inch to three grains of barley placed in a row. The etymology of inch is the Latin unciae, which is the origin of both inch and ounce. However, in , a fire in Parliament led to the destruction of the yardstick, meaning that a new one was required. Over the next two decades, Parliament created 40 official yardsticks, which they sent out around the world to ensure a truly global standard.

With the rise of the metric system, it became easier to define the length of a yard. In , an international treaty fixed the length of the yard at 0. When you are measuring lengths at home, you may be required to convert between metric and imperial.

If you are working on a building project, whether that is installing new windows in your basement or putting in new flooring , precision is critical. The origin of the 16 ounces to a pound system is complex, involving Sumerians, Arab traders, the Hanseatic League, and different — and competing — measurements between different industries. Generally, however, the benefit of the ounce system known as the avoirdupois system won out because of the ease of division.