The metric system ...

i much prefer metric, but after hanging out on American forums the last 5 years, i have gotten pretty good at the US system.
except liquids, i couldn't convert it even if my life depended on it.
 
Steffen said:
i much prefer metric, but after hanging out on American forums the last 5 years, i have gotten pretty good at the US system.
except liquids, i couldn't convert it even if my life depended on it.
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60 drops is a teaspoon
3 teaspoons is a tablespoon
2 tablespoons is an ounce
1 1/2 ounces is a jigger or shot
8 ounces is a cup
2 cups is a pint
2 pints is a quart
4 quarts is a gallon
42 gallons is a barrel
52 gallons is a drum


And that's pretty much it.
 
A.W.U.K. said:
An Imperial gallon of water weighs exactly 10 pounds. Metric enough for ya? :D
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In the US, there is the doggerel "a pint is a pound the world around" - I think this was to help Scouts and military estimate the load added by canteens and jerry cans full of water. Come to think of it, though, this refers to US pints and other USA customary measurement units. Those using Imperial units (the few who still do) need to develop their own bad poetry as a mnemonic. It is also useful for Americans to remember that a US gallon of water weighs 8 US pounds - 40 pounds of water to carry in the 5 gallon plastic containers I often fill.

Here, the metric system is much more convenient. One liter of water is one kilogram. Kerosene and gasoline have lower density, so that a liter of these fuels is only about 0.8 kilograms or 800 grams. Check concepts of density and "specific gravity" in a science text book and the numbers are fairly easy to work with - if the metric system is used. :rolleyes:
 
Faiaoga said:
In the US, there is the doggerel "a pint is a pound the world around" - I think this was to help Scouts and military estimate the load added by canteens and jerry cans full of water. Come to think of it, though, this refers to US pints and other USA customary measurement units. Those using Imperial units (the few who still do) need to develop their own bad poetry as a mnemonic. It is also useful for Americans to remember that a US gallon of water weighs 8 US pounds - 40 pounds of water to carry in the 5 gallon plastic containers I often fill.

Here, the metric system is much more convenient. One liter of water is one kilogram. Kerosene and gasoline have lower density, so that a liter of these fuels is only about 0.8 kilograms or 800 grams. Check concepts of density and "specific gravity" in a science text book and the numbers are fairly easy to work with - if the metric system is used. :rolleyes:
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The Imperial lyric is, “A pint’s a shilling, I hope she’s willing.”
 
The metric and imperial measurement used to bottle engine oil is problematic. Some brands come in 1 liter container, others come in 946 milliliter containers. It gets more complicated when 2 cycle oil comes in that lousy 946 ml container making it more difficult to measure out for mixing with gas. One has to pay attention to the measurements when buying these types of products.
 
We have been having so much fun with bad jokes and bad poetry that we failed to notice that National Metric Day was on October 10th (10th day of the 10th month, get the joke?). A National Metric Associaton, based at Colorado State University, has information on the metric system and how to teach it.

I am an American, so I was raised on US customary units. I am also a science teacher, and I have become fluent with metrics. Unfortunately, people are slow to change. Although I teach the metric system, I almost always think in the units I was taught at an early age. I will never understand clothing sizes except those used in the USA:cool:
 
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Worked as a carpenter's apprentice for a few summers and learned how to deal with fractions. Just takes a little practice. I now work in the biotech industry and its metric all the way. I can work with either system, I just need to know where I can get a metric slide rule.

Ric
 
Running a couple labs and years of work in such enviroments has left me with a strong preference for the metric system. Most medical and laboratory equipment is designed for use wirh the metric system. And, frankly, it makes more sense.

YMMV
 
From my experience working in industry in the US, it seems SAE is the most common. I work in the oilfields in ND and all the pipe, bolts, chokes, valves, casing etc are all standard. And I personally prefer SAE over the metric system. That being said it seems the medical field and the sciences are mainly using metric and I think schools are pushing the metric system more and more...
 
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Gerberblades said:
From my experience working in industry in the US, it seems SAE is the most common. I work in the oilfields in ND and all the pipe, bolts, chokes, valves, casing etc are all standard. And I personally prefer SAE over the metric system. That being said it seems the medical field and the sciences are mainly using metric and I think schools are pushing the metric system more and more...
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Standard system of units in College is SI
 
Gollnick said:
60 drops is a teaspoon
3 teaspoons is a tablespoon
2 tablespoons is an ounce
1 1/2 ounces is a jigger or shot
8 ounces is a cup
2 cups is a pint
2 pints is a quart
4 quarts is a gallon
42 gallons is a barrel
52 gallons is a drum


And that's pretty much it.
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...yeah, but are drops all the same? :D
 
mainaman said:
Standard system of units in College is SI
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In what area of study?
Any classroom or lecture hall that deals in the hard sciences will only see metric. Chemistry? Metric. Physics? Metric. Biology, biochem, physiology, etc.? Metric. The same goes for professional/advanced degrees in related fields.
 
The metric conversion in Canada caught me after my base concepts of environmental judgement were formed with imperial weights and measures. I cannot grasp what a cantaloupe costs without mentally converting a Kilogram into roughly 2.2 pounds, and a driven Kilometer is roughly 2\3 of a mile etc.
 
It's a matter of routine and exposure. As a kid I was used to temps in Celsius. Now those numbers would be meaningless to me.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
SI is metric.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_System_of_Units
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The SI system is metric and supposed to be standard, but there seem to be fashions in science. I was taught and was teaching the gas laws using atmospheres as the pressure unit, but new textbooks and new editions of older texts use pascals. Blood pressure (at least in the US) continues to be measured in millimeters of mercury (mmHg) and I am not aware of any efforts to change this.

As an old and decrepit science teacher, I was around when physics textbooks debated cgs versus mks. I even had to work with foot-pounds, tons and slugs. It can be confusing at best. The link you posted is very interesting concerning the history and continuing development of measurements. Thank you for the information. :cool:
 
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