Why doesn't the USA adopt officially the metric unit?

[Tomeck]

If the US is going to convert to the Metric system, why not just convert our currency to the EURO also?

The currency of euro is only for members of EU.

Its because metric is based on silly things, and tends to fluctuate
for example the weight of a kilogram is shrinking:
Official prototype of kilogram mysteriously losing weight - CNN.com

therefore everyone is getting fatter who wants that?

This web is also not serious, because we don't need an official prototype of kilogram to use with other units, a meter is enough to convert all units.

To find a kilogram : 1 decimeter3 of water or 0.001 meter3 (0.1 m x 0.1 m x 0.1 m) ---> 1 kilogram

 

[scubafool]

Why don't we convert?

Simple. We like how it annoys the rest of the world.

 

[Charlie99]

For example : 1 liter of water = 1 kilogramm = 1 decimeter3

If with imperial unit : 0.2642 gallons = 2.2046 pounds = 35.3147 foot3

Actually, the more commonly used conversion of between water volume and weight in imperial units is

1 pint = 1 pound.

 

[Geoff_H]

Actually, the more commonly used conversion of between water volume and weight in imperial units is

1 pint = 1 pound.

Err no, unless you have some very light water. A pint of water has a mass of about 1.25 pounds.

EDIT: I just checked the web, seems an English pint doesn't equal the same as a US pint! Amazing.

 

[Charlie99]

Err no, unless you have some very light water. A pint of water has a mass of about 1.25 pounds.

EDIT: I just checked the web, seems an English pint doesn't equal the same as a US pint! Amazing.

The imperial vs US gallon doesn't cause much problem today, but I remember gallons were a frequent source of confusion when I was living in Washington state in the 60's the Canadians were using a different gallon.

Apparently, there used to be different gallons used for different items. In particular, wine and ale were measured differently. The UK standardized on the ale gallon, we we wine drinkers in the US standardized on that gallon.

 

[Geoff_H]

Another nail in the imperial measurement coffin!

 

[spacemanspiff1974]

This whole debate is giving me a headache - which could easily be solved by taking 500 mg of tylenol and a half litre bottle of diet coke. Actually, this headache could be caused by the .750 litre bottle of wine I had last night. No, its probably because this damn laptop is too slow. It has a 1 gigahertz processor and I really need about a 3 gigahertz processor. Whatever the cause, I really need to get rid of this headache before I go run that 5 k later today.

I sure am glad we don't have to deal with that metric crap in the united states!

 

[Skull]

Walter ...several million posts back I pulled my own post ..because your reference post really sums it up for me as well. I too am schooled in engineering and found that 32.2 ft/sec(sq) was just as easy to work with as 9.8m/sec(sq) ...because after all the hoopla about how great the metric system is ...you end up having to deal with factions and decimal points .

On the surface it seems more practical to deal with decimals but intuitively dealing with factions is equally practical and actually more useful by mental visualization. One could only mentally see .375 as 3/8 because we can take 8 peices and seperate them to see how much value is in 3 of the eight. Likewise the units behind the measurement such as meters or stones or grams don't translate into value. For instance 3/8 mile as opposed to 3/8 km its the fraction we put into use not the units. As for understanding units ...there is no advantage since 3.1 miles (give or take) equals ~ 5 km. Sounds easier to say 5 k ..however if Costco is 16.2km from your house it is equally easier to see it as 10 miles. Given that the miles verses km is really in this case a measuement of time to travel that distance.

Point is you rarely end up with whole numbers when using either the SI or Imperial systems ...so ultimately why should we change ...to appease the rest of the world?!!! ... I say they can learn the imperial system and deal with it. To change the value of our measurements because some units translate into less complicated conversions doesn't outweigh the value in using the imperial system. A system which has equally defined units of measurement which are equally measured and understood. Besides what the heck would we use the front and back inside covers of our physics books for...

 

[Geoff_H]

To change the value of our measurements because some units translate into less complicated conversions doesn't outweigh the value in using the imperial system.

What value, exactly?

Point is you rarely end up with whole numbers when using either the SI or Imperial systems ...so ultimately why should we change ...to appease the rest of the world?!!! ... I say they can learn the imperial system and deal with it

And this is why the world loves Americans.

 

[Charlie99]

When are we going to convert to metric time?

60 seconds per minute, 60 minutes per hour, 24 hours per day makes time calculations unecessarily complicated.

How come the metric guys like the original poster aren't lobbying for time in decimal units of days? Then instead of "just a second", we can say "just 11 microdays".