Metric essay

[Clare Snyder]

>
> I have dealt with at least four utterly different versions of the "metric
> system" since high school. Remember "mks" and cgs" ??? A system of units
> should be a constant--mostly in the interests of quality control and
clear,
> uncluttered technical thinking. I prefer the American-English system
> because it has been very constant for quite some time.

Oh? How many ounces to a quart (40 or 32 us), or to a gallon (128 or 160
us)? Is a quart larger or smaller than a litre? Depends which side of the
border you are on - because the british and american systems do not agree.
The yankee quart is less than a liter, while the british, or crown quart is
more than a liter. The American gallon is only 4/5 of a British or Canadian
gallon ( officially the "canadian" gallon no longer exists). Also we have
nautical miles, statute miles, and british nautical miles. In feet we
haveregular feet at30.48cm, us survey feet at 30.48006 cm, (12 inches and
12.000024inches). Historically the foot has varied considerably - 12.44
(athena), 12.36 (aegina), 12.52 (miletus), 12.64 (olympia), 11.66 (rome),
13.19 (england and old north), 12.79 (france) and 13.17 (moscow). There are
also at least two ounces used for measure of mass, as well as the fluid
ounce, a measure of volume. In the US you have two different pints - dry and
fluid, and the british pint is different again (550.61cc, 473.176cc, and
568.261cc respectively) Go to barrels, and you have us dry, us liquid, and
us oil, as well as british. There are at least 3 BTUs. There are two
different chains used in the british/american system, and the cubit has had
at least nine different sizes over the years. There are at least 3 differend
dimensions for a league as well.

In comparison, the meter, and all of it's derivatives, have only one
dimensional definition, and the gram and all of it's derivatives likewise.

Every british/american conversion requires a different factor - 16 oz to the
pound, 12 inches to the foot, 660 feet to the furlong, 2000 lb per ton, ad
infinitum.  The metric system converts by adding or moving zeros - can't get
much simpler.

As for ISO etc standards, thread forms and standards are all over the map
with the "british" as well. You have unf, unc, np, bsf, bsw, tapered and
straight pipe, etc etc.

I had to make the adjustment, then work with both systems both in Canada and
Zambia.
>