Why the metric system matters - Matt Anticole

For the majority of recorded human history, units like the weight of a grain or the length of a hand weren’t exact and varied from place to place. Now, consistent measurements are such an integral part of our daily lives that it’s hard to appreciate what a major accomplishment for humanity they’ve been. Matt Anticole traces the wild history of the metric system.

Lesson by Matt Anticole, animation by Globizco.

[RenegadeSamurai]

Funfact, on the wikipedia article of the metric-system was once written that "all civilised countries in the world have adopted the metric system."

Sadly this was removed :D

[MrReset]

> Be American
> Decide you want freedom from the British Empire
> Gain freedom and kick out the Imperialists
> Keep using the Imperial System to measure stuff...

[crisant.]

Girl: I only date 6 feet guys
Me with only 2 feet: cries in metric system

[iwantedagoodnamebuticouldn]

Rest of the world: The metric system is ...

America: Bigger than a refrigerator but smaller than a really big refrigerator

[kurtjens]

I'm doing what one writer below suggested: Since the USA won't switch as a country, I decided to switch my household. Scales are in kilograms, temperature gauges in celsius, tape measures are millimeters, centimeters and meters. My beer comes in .47 liter cans. My bike computers read in kilometers. I'm slowly beginning to think metric.

[jasonoreilly]

What about that other favourite American unit the "Football Field"

[unknownyoutuber]

I am an American. I work for a Danish company who set up their very first factory here a few years ago. Being Danish, they use the Metric system. As such, despite being on American soil, I handle and work with Metric all day long. Honestly, it is extremely easy and convenient. You get far, far more precise measurements. It honestly really is superior.

[modernknighterrant]

Fun fact... The US actually almost switched in 1793. Thomas Jefferson wanted to standardize measures because at the time we were using a bit of a hodgepodge between English and Dutch systems depending on state. Having heard of the Metric system, Jefferson inquired into it and France sent a man named Joseph Dombey with some Metric prototypes to help demonstrate the value of the new system. Dombey's ship was blown off course by a storm, and it ended up in the Caribbean where it was hijacked by British privateers. Dombey died in captivity on the island of Montserrat and the prototypes were auctioned off, never making it to Jefferson.

So that's why the U.S. doesn't use metric in a nutshell: Fuckin' pirates.

[poruatokin]

A lot of simplistic comments on here about inches and feet vs millimeters and meters but the metric system ties up a lot more than that. Energy, power, electricity, pressure, force, volume, mass, flow - all are tied together in a logical sense.

Simple example - for everyday use, 1gram of water (at 4degC) has a volume of 1cubic centimeter so 1 cubic meter of water has a volume of 1, 000 liters, has a mass of 1, 000 kg and exerts a pressure of 0.1kg (100 grams) per square centimeter. Easy to calculate and easy to visualize.

Compare that with - How many US gallons of water are in a cubic yard, what is the mass in pounds and how much pressure does it exert in pounds per square inch?

Or another one - Convert metric tons to grams - 1.3 tons x 1, 000 x 1, 000 = 1, 300, 000 grams. Now quickly tell me how many ounces are in 1.3 US tons?

The point is, anyone can use metric values without looking up tables, making conversions or calculating anything. Can you do that with the imperial system? Anybody? From your head, not by looking it

Thought so.

[ProGangstaShit]

America is converting to the metric system, inch by inch...

[octaviolopez]

"ill be there in a bit"
"ok but how close are you"
"about the lenght of the screech of an eagle divided by the amount of times i've fired a semi-automatic shotgun in the last 17 seconds"

[jakobbauz]

So the French helped the Americans to get rid of the British, yet the Americans kept the British method of measuring things? What a weird way to celebrate your independence...

[Wojtackic]

I'm happy Americans at least use seconds. Imagine saying "I'm gonna be there in 50 times the time an American football flies into a goal from the other side of the field"

[framan]

When you use „meters“ instead of „bullet velocity of an AR-15 in football fields per fareinheit“

Americans: **confused screaming**

[a_yan]

This comment section is basically people roasting the U.S like no tomorrow

[ratanasorn]

Every time an American says something like “It’s 95 degrees out”, I almost have a heart attack as someone who uses celcius primarily.

[kaype]

American: "One gallon of milk"
Also American: "Two-liter soda bottles"

[nidohime]

The problem with imperial system can be simplified by this question:

Your foot or my foot?

[AAlrayes]

Imperial system isn't as annoying as writing the month before the day in dates

Edit : I am not talking about y/m/d
I am talking about m/d/y

[spacepeonies]

10 millimetres in a centimetre
10 centimetres in a decimetre
10 decimetres in a meter, etc, etc.

The metric system makes sense. But the imperial system?

5280 feet in a mile??? 12 inches in a foot??? Huh???