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DMBFFF ,
@DMBFFF@lemmy.world avatar

How many centimeters in a kilometer?

How many inches in a mile?

FlyingSquid OP ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

American answer: “Shut up, Euro-freak. I’m trying to watch Big Bang Theory reruns.”

misterundercoat ,

Nobody knows

Hugh_Jeggs ,

Strange how you can easily work out the former, but the latter could be anything from 28 to 56285794

🤔

gimsy ,

Km is 10^3^m cm is 10^-2^m so the difference is 10^5^ i.e. 100000 (one with 5 zeroes)

Or more intuitively one centi-meter is a 1/100 of a meter and Kilo-Meter is 1000 meter therefore 100*1000 100000

It is quite intuitive, once you start using it

What’s weird is why we don’t use Megameters and megagrams (i.e. one metric ton)

LarmyOfLone ,

How many liters is 1 square meter of 1mm thick steel?

I’m definitely on board for megameters. One AU is about 150 gigameters and 1 light year is about 9.5 terameter!

uis ,

1*10^-3 m^3 = 1 dm^3(AKA liter)

jg1i ,

It’s possible! We can switch! I’m US born and raised and I voluntarily switched to metric in college. It took me maybe we few months to start building an intuition for Celsius, grams, liters, and meters. And that was with me in isolation. I would imagine it would be much faster if everyone else was also transitioning.

Over the years, other people have asked me about this and I’ve been shocked at how many people don’t realize most of the world uses metric. Someone asked why I was using “Mexico units” once… Also, I’ve met lots of people who think the US invented inches, pounds, etc, which is… uh… interesting. The arguments y’all are having here are way more advanced than what I’ve run into.

For anyone who wants to voluntarily switch, I highly recommend not to convert between imperial and metric. Just read the metric number and that’s it. The weather says it’s 25c outside? Don’t convert to F. Go outside, experience 25c. Over time you’ll build an intuition. Smartphones and computers have made the switch easier these days.

Of course, until we all switch you’ll really end up being bilingual…

HasturInYellow ,

It’s also helpful to remember that water boils at 100C and your body temp is about 36-37C. Helps me when I see the weather or something.

AgentOrangesicle ,
@AgentOrangesicle@lemmy.world avatar

Room temp is ~21 degrees. That helped me a lot.

SaharaMaleikuhm ,

I wish

AgentOrangesicle ,
@AgentOrangesicle@lemmy.world avatar

Someone needs a heat pump!

uis ,

36.6°C. 37°C is on edge of healthy.

creditCrazy ,
@creditCrazy@lemmy.world avatar

For me it was particularly easy as it’s only Chevy and Ford cars that still use the imperial system for nuts and bolts so I’ve been making use of the metric system for pretty much every car I’ve worked on and I never really understood ferinhight to start off with as I only really cared about is it going to snow temperature wise so why memorize a number for something your only going to check one time in the year now that I’ve gotten accustomed to Celsius I’m now paying attention to if it’s going to rain or not

bitchkat ,

We actually were transitioning to metric when Carter was president and making progress. We did a lot of dual markings like highway signs, weather reports, etc.

The we ejected Reagan. And metric is used for pop and drugs.

uis ,

Drug dealers just know what units system is superior

lightnegative ,

Oh is THAT why every American knows how big 9mm is

LarmyOfLone ,

Of course, until we all switch you’ll really end up being bilingual…

Biunitated?

SwingingTheLamp ,

Question: I know that Celsius is one of the accepted SI units, but is it really metric? (SI includes a number of definitely non-metric units.) And, if being expressed as a decimal number is enough to qualify it as metric, then isn’t the Fahrenheit scale also metric? It is also decimalized, and also defined in terms of the SI unit (Kelvin).

jg1i ,

I stopped caring about British units in 1776! Metric all the way, baby! 🇺🇸 We decimalized their dumb ass currency and we need to finish the job with weights and measures! A vote for imperial units is a vote for red coats! Vote for me for President and I will liberate us from British tyranny! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 🦅🦅🦅

AgentOrangesicle ,
@AgentOrangesicle@lemmy.world avatar

Lab rat here. I got you fam! Let’s collectively believe that BTU’s are real!

Wait…

Bgugi ,

Uuummm… Ackshually Americans don’t use imperial units, they use united States customary units. Which are similar, but just a smidge different.

baltakatei ,

Can’t wait for the day when Uncle Sam to turns brown.

Trigger2_2000 ,

Uncle Sam couldn’t handle the success the metric system would bring. /s

bluewing ,

This is among the dumbest internet arguments ever.

G20/G21. The machines don’t care, my digital calipers, micrometers, rulers, and 3D CAD software don’t care which system is being used. So why should I have my undies in a bunch about which is better? I use the measurement system best suited for the task at hand - whether that’s metric, US customary, or light years.

As for not knowing how many inches are in a mile, that’s about the stupidest internet point ever. No one cares about that, well maybe some civil engineer might need to very rarely care in some unusual situation. The scale of measurement is wrong for inches. In fact, most people don’t care much about the actual distance away something is, they mostly care about how long does it take to get there. The odds are pretty good you have no idea how far it is from your front door to the grocery store in miles or kilometers. But you DO know how long it takes to get there. Whether by foot, bike, bus, or car.

LarmyOfLone ,

Oh yeah? I bet you also use mebibyte instead of megabytes!

FlyingSquid OP ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Weird how you think inches are only used for long distances and not, for example, making sure a beam is the right length while you’re building a house, or making sure a screw is the right size.

But I do agree that inches are not practical for long distances. That’s probably why people in the U.S. use miles.

bluewing ,

Millimeter are not practical for measuring long distances either. And measuring the length of a piece of lumber isn’t a “long distance” either

FlyingSquid OP ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

That is why kilometers are used for long distances in metric. I’m really not sure why you don’t know about how people measure long distances.

bluewing ,

I do and perhaps more than you. I don’t know why you brought your point about inches and scale when I had already pointed out that those who think it’s such a “gotcha” argument are wrong and why.

Again, use the measurement system and units best suited to the task at hand. And never forget, every measurement system is just a bunch of made up units by some random dude and then modified by some other random dudes at random times.

FlyingSquid OP ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Or perhaps less. That’s what happens when you talk to a complete stranger on the internet.

phoenixz ,

I use the measurement system best suited for the task at hand

So you always use metric, gotcha

bluewing ,

Mostly. But not always. Again use what is best for the job. An idea that often fails here.

phoenixz ,

Again, so metric then, as the imperial system is arbitrary shit that make no sense from hundreds of yours ago that only still is in use in the IS and a few third world countries, and ONLY because conservatives in the US refuse to get with the program.

Literally the entire world switched to the metric system because it works, and the US literally got left behind because conservative values.

bluewing ,

The metric system is also arbitrary shit and they both also work. And I got news for you, the Democrats controlled the house and senate in those years. They could have easily passed a law requiring everyone to switch to the metric system. But it was decided that allowing the switch over to happen organically was the better way. Maybe they were right, maybe they were wrong.

And make no mistake, while US Customary will eventually fade away, so to will the metric system in time. Just like ALL the other measuring systems in history.

Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In ,

The machines don’t care.

People building those machines do

Malfeasant ,

That’s people making the dumb mistake of using the wrong units. They could have just as easily used the wrong metric units.

Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In ,

A second piece of code that read this data assumed it was in the metric unit—“newtons per square meter"

Malfeasant ,

Yes… Code doesn’t write itself.

Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In ,

The machine running that code cares about the definition of the units in that code.

Machines do care.

Malfeasant ,

Machines don’t care about shit, they blindly do what they’re told. Garbage in, garbage out.

Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In ,

I wouldn’t go so far as to call imperial units garbage.

bluewing ,

I’ve designed and built those machines. We don’t care. Pick the proper units for the job and go at it.

Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In ,

You’ve built an interplanetary spacecraft!? Do go on…

bluewing ,

Oddly enough I have helped build a couple of items that flew on the space shuttle back in the day. Which is more than you can say. But most of my work involved industrial machines for manufacturing lines and associated custom tooling. I have machines all over the planet.

Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In ,

OK. So on projects with international teams you always picked metric?

What are the circumstances that would give imperial units an advantage?

bluewing ,

You make projects to the buyers specs. But I have made US Customary machines and parts as requested by companies in India, Pakistan, and Great Britain if I remember correctly, (I’ve been out of the business for a good while and I’m now retired altogether). I can’t remember anything in Germany or Japan. The Chinese were always whatever dope dreams they were on that particular day. They could be particularly bad about mixing and matching units for no reason or just making something up out of thin air.

Let’s see, just off the top of head, US thread patterns are a bit better the the metric ones. While it doesn’t mean as much these days thanks to CNC and G20/G21, (because the machines don’t care). The inch pattern of threads are a little bit stronger, (it’s not a whole lot more), and due to the threads per inch standard, it’s easier to just count the number of threads over a set distance, (1 inch), vs trying to measure a thread crest to crest. This makes identifying threads pitches easier with inch pattern threads when trying to make repair parts. And back when manual machines ruled the shops, inch pattern threads made screw cutting lathes smaller, simpler, and cheaper than metric lathes. You needed fewer gears and shafts, fewer bearings, and less cast iron to make the head stock. This made US lathes faster and cheaper to make and cheaper to buy. Plus you can cut more different thread pitches on an inch pattern lathe vs a metric lathe due to not needing to resort to removing covers of the metric lathe to make gear changes and even swapping to a different threading dial despite the QC gear boxes.

These small cheap lathes is why, in their own small way, during WW2 the US industrial capabilities grew so fast. Anyone could buy a small lathe for a few hundred dollars, literally carry it up to as second story flat and start making all those small parts for the war effort. Small benchtop lathes were manufactured by the tens of thousands and they were all bought by people, many of whom had little to no experience in manufacturing to start making extra money in their off time from their day jobs. And while many got worn out and scrapped over the years, you can still find those little South Bend, Clausing, and Atlas lathes in hobby workshops in the US today. And they are lovingly used and doted over by their owners.

US Customary Units are slowly and surely fading into the sunset. And at some point they will just organically fade away, (it’s why there has never been a national law forcing people to switch), as the casual US population just starts using them more and more. We already use the metric system to buy soda and whisk(e)y to searching for that missing 10mm wrench just like every one else on the planet. The only places you still see US Customary units being commonly used is in construction, (inches and feet), travel distances, (miles), and temperature, (Fahrenheit). Construction has backwards compatibility issues making it very difficult to switch from using a 2"x4" to a 50mmx100mm piece of lumber. Not to mention plumbing problems. And distances and speed limits on a road sign don’t really make a lot of difference in how they are shown for the average traveler. And for deciding just how to dress for the weather, what units you are using really doesn’t matter. (Why doesn’t the metric world use Kelvin to measure the temperature in daily use?) It’s not the first time a measurement system has been eclipsed in human history and even the metric system likely will get replaced by something else in the far future. In the end, neither system is head and shoulders better than the other. Nor have I ever claimed such. They both are, after all, just arbitrary units made up by some random dude hundreds of years ago.

G20/G21…

Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In ,

US thread patterns are a bit better the the metric ones

Very interesting. Not directly related to measurements but a clear practical reason to chose imperial over metric. Cups are also a more convenient measurement for dry, equally dense ingredients.

neither system is head and shoulders better than the other

Metric having intersecting definitions (1l of water = 1kg) and being divisible by 10 have clear advantages for mental arithmetic. But if imperial were consistently base 12 I could be convinced to swap.

Why doesn’t the metric world use Kelvin to measure the temperature in daily use?

It sort of is. At least the scale is the same. Only the base value differs.

bluewing ,

“A pint’s a pound the world around” is the ditty. Wherever do you think the metric system got the idea for 1l = 1kg? The serial numbers just got filed off that idea and claimed it as if they invented it. If you look closely, there is a shocking number of base ideas of the, “common” usage measurement system, were simply copied and just re scaled and give new names. Since the base values differ, Celsius and kelvin ain’t the same. Not that it matters of everyday usage. I just want to know if it’s going to be cold, nice or hot when I get up in the morning. I don’t worry about what scale I’m using.

It’s pretty amazing when you start really looking at things to understand just where something originated from, it becomes apparent that there is very little new under the sun.

polle ,

That rocket that crashed because of usage of different units seems to differ.

phoenixz , (edited )

Doesn’t the reason why the avg US citizen wants imperial units boil down to “sounds cooler”?

Kilometer vs Miles, the former latter sounds easier and cooler to work with

Centimeter vs inch, same.

How will they now call a two by four?

It’s kind of the same for the pro gun arguments, it all boils down to “but guns are cool toys!”

Edit: fixed a duuuhhh

Vailliant ,

A “five by ten” I would say, doesnt sound to bad.

I think its mostly ingrained into the population at this point.

Capsaicin1337 ,

You forgot that a 2 by four isn’t actually two by four inches .

It is actually 1.5 inches by 3.5 inches. The 2 by 4 references the rough cut lumber before planning.

Malfeasant ,

Planing. Planning wood is very different.

phoenixz ,

That, and conservatives just can’t let go of old crappy ideas

SLVRDRGN ,

Between the kilometer vs miles, isn’t the “former” here the kilometer? So you’re saying the metric system sounds cooler? But then you went on to say two by four which is an imperial thing… am I confused?

exanime ,

Yeap, they got former and latter crossed

phoenixz ,

Yeah my bad. I meant latter there, and fixed it… Thanks!

TheReturnOfPEB ,

A 2x4 is actually 1.5" x 3.5" so you are not standing on solid ground with that one.

Malfeasant ,

When you build a wood house, how far apart are the studs? I once tried to hang a shelf made by/for the European market, it had predrilled holes that were far enough apart that I could almost hit two studs, but not quite.

ZealousSealion ,

6dm

phoenixz ,

I read that as “I once tried to hang myself…” and was shocked for a second

trolololol ,

Inflation?

phoenixz ,

That says a lot about how crappy the imperial system is, really.

postmateDumbass ,

Americans choosing the system with tougher math requirements is suprising.

Malfeasant ,

We see it as sticking to what we’re used to… As conservative as we are overall, is it really that surprising?

phoenixz ,

It’s all conservatives clinging to really outdated and stupid shit

postmateDumbass ,

How will they now call a two by four?

Stud wood.

Bgugi ,

With a wink. Yes, every time.

Malfeasant ,

Then how to differentiate from 2x6? 2x8?

phoenixz ,

5x15 and 5x20 respectively.

threeganzi ,

They’ll be happy to know the metric system also has miles.

10 km = 1 mile (metric mile)

PlexSheep ,

I have never heard of metric miles, did you make that up?

ZealousSealion ,

Also known as the Scandinavian mile. It is very commonly used in Sweden and Norway to describe long distances.

Before the introduction of the metric system, there were many local miles. Some a bit shorter than 10km, some a bit longer.

PlexSheep ,

Good to know

threeganzi ,

Ah, perhaps not as standard as I thought!

phoenixz ,

One kilometer is 1000 meters, one meter is 1000 millimeters. One square meter is 1,000,000 millimeters, one cubic meter is 1000 liters.

1 liter of water is 1 kilograms, so 1 cubic meter is 1000 kilograms. Sand is about 2.3 times heavier than water, so 1 cubic meter of sand is 2300 kilograms, or 2.3 metric tonnes.

I’m 1.96 meters tall, or 1 meter and 960 millimeters, or 1 meter and 96 centimeters. I weigh about 85 kilos, or 85.000 grams. Being 65% water, I carry about 55.25 kilograms of water, which will fill a little over 55 one liter water bottles

I can do this all day

Now let’s do the same with imperial units! You first, cuz I’m not going to touch that shit with a 10 foot pole…

CommissarVulpin ,

One mile is 5280 feet, one foot is 12 inches. One square foot is 144 square inches, one cubic foot is 1728 cubic inches.

1 gallon of water is 8.34 pounds, and 1 cubic foot is 7.48 gallons, so a cubic foot of water weighs 62.38 pounds. If sand is 2.3 times heavier than water, a cubic foot of sand weighs 143.5 pounds.

I am 5 feet 10 inches tall, or 5.83 feet, or 70 inches. I weigh about 220 pounds, or 3520 ounces. If I’m 65% water, I carry about 143 pounds of water, or a little over 16 gallons.

Guh

Preflight_Tomato ,

I had to check the math because 1 m^2^ being 2300 kg while 1 cu ft at 143 lbs seemed crazy, but with the volume difference it’s all correct.

Thank you for putting in the effort 🙃

Buddahriffic ,

To illustrate, 1m³ = (100cm)³ = 1,000,000cm³ = (1000mm)³ = 1,000,000,000mm³

You go from the single dimensional conversion between m and cm being a factor of 100 and 1000 for m and mm, to the 3 dimensional conversion being a factor of 1 million for m and cm or 1 billion for m and mm. It scales up fast.

MadBob ,

Bit silly to mix decimal with non-base 10 measurements!

CommissarVulpin ,

It’s worse than that. Inches are base 12, ounces and cups are base 16, machinists use thousandths of an inch, and surveyors use tenths of a foot!

postmateDumbass ,

And computers use base 2. Bastards.

dream_weasel ,

That was totally logical to me

phoenixz , (edited )

Cool.

Also great way to miss the point. And great use of your calculator. The entire thing is that the metric system is not just “arbitrary amounts”, it’s all designed to fit together easily.

Now, no calculator. How many feet is 0.683 miles?

I know that 0.683 kilometers is 683 meters.

macaroni1556 ,

What a great snapshot of life in Canada

phoenixz ,

Actually, I think the entire world minus two or three countries,.one of them being the US of A.

By pure coincidence I do live in Canada, but I’m dutch. Also lived in Mexico. Everything is metric and easy, unlike the USA.

macaroni1556 ,

Your late reply made me realize I replied to the entirely wrong comment and yeah I make no sense.

I meant to reply to the farming comment mentioning insane mixed units like Liters per Acre

DeanFogg ,

Height in imperial is kinda useful. If you say a person is 4 foot tall vs 6 foot tall it immediately paints a vivid picture

Malfeasant ,

This isn’t some intrinsic value. What you’re used to makes the most sense. If you were used to measuring people’s height in meters, 1.3 meters vs 2 meters would paint just as vivid a picture.

feedum_sneedson ,

You get used to it. 150cm versus 180cm, since I don’t often meet anybody four foot tall.

exanime ,

Classroom supplies for elementary school always included a 30 cm ruler, so you’d immediately know what 30 cm difference is

phoenixz ,

That paints nothing to me, nor anyone in the rest.od the world. That literally only works in the US and a few other thirds world countries…

1-80 versus 2 meter does the same and makes sense

Bakkoda ,

This guy/gal specific gravities.

ikidd ,
@ikidd@lemmy.world avatar

Try farming in Canada. I will actually use liters per acre as a unit to measure in liquid fertilizer into a sprayer, spray it at gallons per acre and drive the sprayer at kph with a pump pressure in PSI on a field that was surveyed in rods.

It’ll get harvested by a machine that has all metric bolts and uses a 30’ cutting platform, the grain will be measured in bushels on the yield monitor and sold in $/bushel with the selling agent but the contract will be in tonnes and delivered that way.

postmateDumbass ,

And you have to do it in two languages too.

ikidd ,
@ikidd@lemmy.world avatar

Well, chances are the Quebecers will have to learn English because I think ag equipment is exempt from dual language laws. At least I’ve never seen a part number for French manuals.

Lucidlethargy ,

Lol this thread got spicy. Today I learned base 12 is actually superior to base 10 in a myriad of ways.

It seems the most reasonable people in this thread are arguing for a new system, not one or the other. I concur with this thought.

So… Fuck the imperial AND metric system. I’m team new system.

Shou ,

Same. Until then, I use both.

postmateDumbass ,

The base 12 system was real popular in Sumeria.

So your new system is akshualy the oldest.

Malfeasant ,

Base twelve would be great if we went all-in, as in new symbols for single digit representation of ten and eleven, then 10 would mean twelve. Having a base that’s divisible by several primes is handy.

FatherGascown ,

The more I read about America, the more I realise what a fucking stupid country it was, is, and will probably keep on being.

modus ,

If I could read, I’d probably be insulted by this comment.

RubyRhod ,

Hence the effort to defund education.

As if people weren’t so fuckin dumb already.

Christ WTF year are we fucking in you guys?

renzev ,

There are some pretty smart people in America tho

exanime ,

Indeed, too bad nobody wants to listen to them

polle ,

And the most ridiculous (or inclusive) thing are tiresizes in Europe (perhaps somewhere else, too?). 195/55r16 195 is the width in millimeters 55 is the height in percentage of the width R16 is the radius of the wheel in inches

Malfeasant ,

Same in US…

zalgotext ,

Y’all preach about how much better the metric system is because it’s base ten and super intuitive, then measure weather temperature on a scale from -20C to 40C 🥴

lightnegative ,

Well, yeah. Anything less than 0 is freezing and anything greater than 0 isn’t.

Ezpz

Malfeasant ,

Fahrenheit makes more sense for human experience… 0 to 100 roughly corresponds to what can be survived for a significant amount of time. Below freezing you can survive without shelter as long as you’re dressed for it, but as you approach zero it gets a lot harder, you really need shelter and heat at that point. Same with above 100… 117 won’t kill you right away, but without some sort of man-made cooling device, you’ll be wishing it would. I say this having lived both extremes, mountains of Colorado in winter, and Phoenix in summer… Honestly, given the choice between 115 and -15, I’d rather have the cold.

zalgotext ,

Exactly! Weather happens at temperatures lower than water’s freezing point, and much lower than it’s boiling point, so using those two reference points to measure weather temps against isn’t very convenient.

dwalin ,

Yeah… We do… everyday. Its not hard

lovely_reader ,

Fair, but that’s pretty much how a lot of people feel about imperial units, too.

feedum_sneedson ,

What.

PanArab ,

Metric is just easier and the founders of the US actually considered it but wars -obviously- distracted them from switching to it.

nobleshift ,
@nobleshift@lemmy.world avatar

As an American who lives and travels on a sailboat, it’s sooooo much easier to just be normal and think in metric.

Foreigners (who aren’t sailors) are always amazed when they meet an American that can speak metric.

Why the US refuses to get in bed with the rest of the world is beyond me. Stupid AF I guess …

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