I'm just popping in to say, this is silly and I love that you actually did it.
However, you must also agree that to change our system of measurement would be absurdly costly and to accuse us of being inferior for keeping with such a system is childish.
As a person under the Imperial unit of measurement system I'll agree that Metric is probably better and I would love to have a base 10 system of measurement. Make everything simple and whatnot.
However, you must also agree that to change our system of measurement would be absurdly costly and to accuse us of being inferior for keeping with such a system is childish.
Favorite non-real measurements: The Urist & the Arbitrary Unit (don't ask how I use this one.)I once had a teacher that, if someone forgot the units, started to talk about cubic crowbars.
Favorite real measurement: Probably watts, just for the lame jokes that I get to say in the middle of physics lecture. They're even funnier because the professor is a huge stickler for units. "I'm sorry, but that's 64 whats?" "Yes."
So, what is your favorite unit of measurement
and your favorite thing to measure?
and your favorite thing to measure?
As a person under the Imperial unit of measurement system I'll agree that Metric is probably better and I would love to have a base 10 system of measurement. Make everything simple and whatnot.Don't have to change it all abruptly, do you? Have both systems for a while, start teaching Metric in school and sooner or later you'll be bi-systemal. Then you can stop using Imperial all together.
However, you must also agree that to change our system of measurement would be absurdly costly and to accuse us of being inferior for keeping with such a system is childish.
There's something neat and tidy about metric. I mean, the fact that 1 centimeter cubed of water is 1 milliliter is 1 gram? That's just awesome.It's not funny! :(
Favorite unit though? Angstroms are pretty neat, largely because of the funny little circle on the A for its symbol.
Don't have to change it all abruptly, do you? Have both systems for a while, start teaching Metric in school and sooner or later you'll be bi-systemal. Then you can stop using Imperial all together.Yeah, that's what we do. Granted we could do a better job ob being equal about it but I'm not gonna deal with the public educational system problems in this thread.
Eh, the school systems already teach dual measurement systems pretty much completely, especially any sort of science class. It doesn't change the fact that redoing every sign in the country is kinda pointless and wasteful.You mean like in the UK where all the signs are in kilometres? Oh wait.
Eh, the school systems already teach dual measurement systems pretty much completely, especially any sort of science class. It doesn't change the fact that redoing every sign in the country is kinda pointless and wasteful.Gotta start somewhere. As I said, there's no need to change all at once, especially if you're already taught both.
Yeah, that's what we do. Granted we could do a better job ob being equal about it but I'm not gonna deal with the public educational system problems in this thread.Good to know. I'd gotten the impression that you was only taught Imperial.
I once had a teacher that would, in every situation where someone would forget to mention the units in their solution, imply that the units were "baby elephants." Regardless of what we may or may not have been studying, and/or the presence of fractions in said number. She would've make a very good Dwarf Fortress player.Favorite non-real measurements: The Urist & the Arbitrary Unit (don't ask how I use this one.)I once had a teacher that, if someone forgot the units, started to talk about cubic crowbars.
Favorite real measurement: Probably watts, just for the lame jokes that I get to say in the middle of physics lecture. They're even funnier because the professor is a huge stickler for units. "I'm sorry, but that's 64 whats?" "Yes."
Kelvin. I mean, how hard is it to see the logic in a temperature system where zero is, well... zero?
There's also this. I hear British people still have a problem with metrics.Maybe the older generation, but with a few exceptions (miles on motorways, pints for drinks in bars) most people have adapted.
I must say, I've always disliked the electronvolt.It's wonderfully misleading. For instance, the LHC ramped up to 7 tera-electron volts (or 7,000,000,000,000 electron volts) last year. Must be huge, right?
No, but I'm sure he would accept the Rankine without a hitch :PKelvin. I mean, how hard is it to see the logic in a temperature system where zero is, well... zero?
Then my option of the Delisle scale where 0°K equals approximately 560°De would not impress you, I imagine? (+560°De)
Mind you that's 7 terra-electron volt per particle.Well, yeah, obviously in the context of particle collisions it's HUGE. But TeV are still pretty small, and it sounds less impressive when measured in joules :P.
What about foot-pounds?I'm more fond of pound-moles myself.
What about foot-pounds?I'm more fond of pound-moles myself.
I like the Astronomical Unit.
Imperial. Try cutting a pie into tenths. You cut it in half, then sort of bullshit your way to tenths. Now try cutting another pie into eights. You cut it in half, then in half, then in half, then in half.Which is more practical for daily use, a base ten or a base four system?Ah yes, imperial, the system of measurements with such brilliant base 4 innovations as 14 pounds in a stone, 3 feet in a yard, 1760 yards in a mile, 5,760 grains to a Troy ounce etc.
Responding to avoid getting dragged out of my house by the RSPC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pound-mole#Other_units_called_.22mole.22)A because there really is a pound-moleWhat about foot-pounds?I'm more fond of pound-moles myself.
I believe that's also known as the "Whack-A-Mole" :P
I like the Astronomical Unit.
Bah! The AU is nothing but a confusing, arbitrary, geocentric measure before the perfect rationality of the light-year.
*ignores the fact that "year" is an arbitrary, geocentric measure.*
Planck units are the best! No arbitrary geocentrism involved here!
Another unit I like is the radian, since it is dimensionless. This means, that for certain online physics homework programs, you can multiply your units by radians to an insane number, and still get the correct answer!You can do that on your exams anyway, because radians are mod 2*pi ;)
Planck units are the best! No arbitrary geocentrism involved here!
"Yes, officer. I can vaguely describe the man who attacked me. He was 2.87 Milliard Yotta Planck Lengths in height, his irises were predominantly 470nm in hue and overall I'd say that he was around 57 thousand Yamu. The only thing I remember from before the incident was him saying mumbling something at about 45dB about 'bloody scientists, overcomplicating things'."
One of these days I'm going to change by signature to this.Derp.
One of these days I'm going to change by signature to this.I was considering this but I couldn't fit it in between Realmfighter being... Realmfighter and a hilariously out-of-context line about pants.
Measuring things in proton masses, cesium-133 transitions or whatever they are called, and however far light travels in one of those.I have an interesting unit here which may fit these requirements:
the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second.It may be based on "seconds", but don't worry! Seconds are actually
There's a factor of about 10 that needs fixing before that become elegant leafsnail.A factor of ten? Sure, let's redefine a metre to be ten centimetres.
What I like to measure? Obviously it's CENSORED :PA strangers face on television? :P
What about the coulomb? I can't believe I forgot about it. It's one farad, charged to one volt, equal to 6.24150965(16)×10^18 electrons.
It's Faraday!What about the coulomb? I can't believe I forgot about it. It's one farad, charged to one volt, equal to 6.24150965(16)×10^18 electrons.Faraday?
Edit: Oh yeah, and in Germany, they named bicycles after him.But they never get his bloody name right.
Nice image!They don't do measurements in Egypt?
Hmmm, I miss the Dutch Ell (el), but it's about the same as the cubit, although the exact length differs per city or region.
Not to mention the palm, taille, streep or duim and the roede.
*wikis a bit* Damn we had a lot of weird stuff to measure with. Thank Napoleon we got rid of all that.
I also liked the "if you're not with us, you're against us" map:Spoiler (click to show/hide)
"Pascals". Newtons per square centimetre. Not sure why.Pascal is a Newton per square meter. Sorry, my eyes just tripped over this.
Lots of things are still defined per liter (such as molarity. How is that in imperial units anyway? pound-moles per gallon?) which doesn't make much sense either.A litre[1] is a 10x10x10cm cube, (a cubic decimetre), which may seem a bit strange and non-SI (cubic metres would be more in line, one thousand times the volume), but a litre of water weighs (under normal Earth gravity) exactly 1kg, the SI unit of
I always found it weird that a kilogram is SI but a kilometer ain't.Yeah - you'd kindof expect them to call the SI one grams in the first place. It's also weird because it's defined by an artifact (so you have a block of metal that is the kilogram) rather than a constant.
Actually the mole is derived from mass.It involves "kilogram" in its definition, yeah, but it still needs a definition rather than just "Unit X divided by unit Y", so it's a base unit.
The Urist, obviously.