America's Aversion to the Metric System

America's Aversion to the Metric System

By: Paul Cox

Date: March 2001

Source: http://members.cox.net/mathmistakes/metrics.htm

Marge: Now, I know you haven't liked some of my past suggestions, like switching to the metric system --
Abe: The metric system is the tool of the devil! My car gets forty rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it.
- The Simpsons episode "A Star is Burns"

The anniversary went unnoticed, in this country anyways, but 2000 marked the 200th anniversary of the metric system, a system still not widely adopted by the United States. Ironically, the US was almost the second country to adopt the measuring system, now we are the last.

The metric system was first invented in 1790 by the French Academy, as a result of the newly established French Assembly's demand for a simpler system of measurement. (You may recall the French Revolution of 1789) At the time, it was decided that the meter should be one ten millionth the measure of the distance from the equator to the North Pole along the Paris meridian. The metric system could not be put into place until this distance could be established.

The official Meter Rod (a metal pole made with platinum-iridium alloy with two hairline markings indicating the length of the official meter when the pole is at 0 degrees Celsius) sits locked away in the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Sevres, France. The distance of the official meter has now been measured in light wavelengths, so now it is possible to determine the exact length of a meter with a fancy lab experiment. To be exact, one meter is defined as 1,650,763.73 wavelengths of radiation emitted in a vacuum under an electrical discharge with spectroscopic notation 2p10 - 5d5 emitted by Krypton-86 atoms. (For you non physicists, krypton is like neon, both are noble gasses. So when krypton is put in a glass tube and high voltage charge is applied, it glows like a neon light. Krypton isotope 86 gives off an orange red glow at an exact frequency which can be converted to wavelengths which can in turn be used to measure exact distances.)

About the time that France adopted the Metric System, sentiment in the US was pro France and anti Great Britain, it was about this same time when Noah Webster wrote his dictionary which changed American spellings away from British standards ("colour" became "color", "theatre" became "theater", etc.). The President at the time was Thomas Jefferson who not only was on good terms with the French government (hence the Louisiana Purchase), but was also an amateur scientist and mathematician. He no doubt understood the advantages of the metric system over the traditional British system. The US had the opportunity to adopt to the Metric system in the early 1800's, but failed to do so. 200 years later and we are still behind the times.

The official use of Metric measures along side traditional English measures was actually authorized by Congress in 1866, and the US was an original signatory party to the 1875 Treaty of the Meter. In 1959, the US set its own standards based on the metric system. A yard is officially 0.9144 meters exactly, and an inch is 2.54 centimeters exactly. Congress also passed a law in 1975 to work toward making the metric system the standard system in America. This was amended in 1988 when it was decided that the Government itself must be metric before it can start asking the private sector to follow suit. Since 1991, all government agencies must file an annual report on their efforts to go metric (sounds like more bureaucratic paperwork). The Official Website of the metric conversion program shows all the signs of a badly funded half hearted effort.

Metrics in America

The cost to the US for not being on the metric system is no doubt high. Just last year, a Martian probe was destroyed because some of its navigational data was in feet, and some was in meters. All exported goods have to be labeled in metrics or they do not sell. We are slowly getting our act together. Almost all packaged goods have both the standard and metric measures on their label. The can of Root Beer I am drinking is labeled 12 FL OZ (355 mL).

In truth, the US is using the metric system extensively, just not totally. Doctors do all measures in metrics especially distributing medicine in cubic centimeters. Virtually all scientists in the US use metric measures exclusively. Track and field events have dropped yards and miles all together. I remember when running the mile in under four minutes was a big deal, now they do not run the mile anymore it is the 1600 meter event.

All new car speedometers are in both KPH and MPH, and many recent cars have KPH as the dominant measure. Ironically, speed limit signs are almost exclusively MPH, even on highways where distances are measured in kilometers. Here in Arizona, Highway 19 from Tucson to Nogales is marked in Kilometers. I used to live along this highway, and drove 14 km to work everyday, it is not difficult to adjust if everything is marked that way, yet I was annoyed that the speed limit was posted as 65 instead of 105 KPH. There is not a single KPH sign on the entire 100km stretch of highway.

In other respects, we have actually gone backwards. During the late 70's early 80's, there was a major effort to move metric. Weather forecasts would show both Fahrenheit and Celsius measures of temperature. Then broadcasters decided there were too many numbers being reported, people got overloaded, so they dropped all the Celsius numbers.

Top 10 reasons we should convert to the Metric System (with apologies to David Letterman)

10. People will finally understand my joke about driving attoparsecs per nanocenturies.
9. Gas will seem cheaper at 50 cents a liter.
8. Being 22 kilos overweight does not sound as bad as 50 lbs.
7. Defense will be easier if the offense has to drive 10 meters for a first down.
6. Arizona summers will not seem as bad when its only 40 degrees outside.
5. It’s not "metric", its "Digital"!
4. Imagine all the exciting math you will do converting your favorite recipes to milliliters.
3. Less fractions to deal with like, "Do I need a five eighths socket or a nine sixteenths to loosen this nut?"
2. The boy band 98º will not be as popular calling themselves 36.7º.
1. Half a liter is more than a pint, which means, MORE ICE CREAM FOR EVERYBODY!

It’s not metrics people are afraid of, it is the conversion.

I do not have to spend time writing why the metric system is superior to standard units. Anybody who has been schooled in both understands the advantages of metric units. Not only is metric measure easier, it is universally accepted everywhere, except in the United States.

So why do we avoid it? It is not because we are afraid of using the metric system, it is because we are afraid of the whole conversion process. In other words, we are afraid of a lot of math that goes along with the converting. People are not going to convert recipes to metric measures as I pointed out above. Land division has been done in acres and square miles for centuries now, and because all of the property is divided this way it will not change anytime soon. Traditional measures will be with us forever in some form or another, which means converting back and forth will be with us forever.

Converting to the metric system can only happen a little at a time, and one step at a time. I would start by dropping miles for kilometers on all US highways. Let's use that KM/H dial on our car. If kilometers catch on, meters instead of yards, and centimeters instead of inches will follow (except where the decimal inch rules). Once distances are metric, we can start working on liquid measures. We already buy 2 liter bottles of soda, everything else is easy. Weight will be tough, people are used to pounds. Same goes for Celsius temperatures. Because temperature measurement is not tied closely with other metric measures, it will take at least another decade or two to get rid of Fahrenheit.

Britain went to the Metric system officially in 1975, yet the old traditional measures are still a part of daily life in Britain today. I suspect that is how it will be in the US as well.

Questions:

Source: Cite Your Source. Write down the Author, Title, Date and news Source where you have obtained your article.

a) In what news source did you find your Article? ____________

b) Who was the Reporter? ______

c) What was the date that the Article was reported? ______

d) What was the title of the Article? ______

Reflection/Thoughts: Write a paragraph on what you learned that you did not know before. This is where you will reflect on what “the article means to me”.