The real reasons the US refuses to go metric
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- Опубликовано: 24 июн 2019
- In 1975, the US had their shot at going metric... but we blew it. Over 40 years later, we’re still entangled in mass confusion. In this video, we take a look at why our old system of measures has held out for so long, why Americans are so hesitant to make the switch, and most importantly, how metric might already be here to stay.
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What will it take for the US to finally make the switch?
Verge Science yup
Being taken over by a country with metric system -_-
Just changing it by law. Everyone is free to use what they like, but you could make it official in schools, the rest will change slowly but automatically.
It will take years, countries, and people.
Being unpatriotic.
Of course the USA is going metric. We're just doing it inch by inch.
2 funny sir - you are a modern day Will Rogers/Groucho Marx rolled into one 😁
currently 31 yards, six and fifteen sixteenths of an inch yet to go
That is fabulous 🤣🤣
Ya gotta watch these people! Give 'em a centimeter and they'll take a kilometer!
Bruh
Just use Km/h instead of burgers per freedom and you will almost be fine.
GUNS PER SCHOOL
@@Iucebowel yo chillll
@@Abztract FURRIES PER WALMART
"Burgers per freedom".. yo why am I still alive right now 💀💀💀
Salty metric plebs per video
As an engineer, when people use the argument that the imperial system "makes more sense" because "a foot is about the length of your foot" and "an inch is roughly the length of your thumb" this makes me scream... Words like "about" and "roughly" have absolutely no business being used when measuring anything.
Of course measument must be done to some level of precision, but in everyday life we estimate length more than we measure. The foot is a convenient unit for estimation, not because it is close to the size of your foot but because it is a convenient size. The meter is too coarse; the cm is too fine.
@@GH-oi2jf you're clearly not an engineer. I understand it's probably how normal people think but my brain is just not wired like that.
I have a graduate engineering degree. The fact that some people put forward lame reasons for feet and inches does not make me want to stop using them, only to ignore their arguments.
You don't have problems with the metric system! Money is metric:
1 cent = 1 centimeter
1 thousand = 1 kilometer
(Kilo is 1000 in ancient greek)
It's a science channel so the metric system makes most sense imo
Literally they even said that this channel is science 😂
I agree, random! (I don't say "dude". Ha ha.)
Yes, Metric makes *far* more sense.
They are an American channel for mostly American viewers why wouldn’t they use imperial
@@apex_blue Because i'ts a science channel and even US americans do science in metric.
@@DieselsVideos I know me too, but we don’t comprehend it, we only know it, which is why most Americans including me still use the standard (imperial for you) system for everyday use.
Drug dealers are on board too. You buy a gram, not an ounce.
Na g we buy ounces ova hurr
Take a moment to really think about your comment.
The White Banksters know this as well when they launder the money and stash it overseas with no taxes.
If you want to buy enough yes you do buy a ounce but most people with weed which is what you are referring to is by grams. Other drugs go by ounces if in large enough doses.
In "Gin & Juice", how much were they going to "smoke today"?
Let's take a moment and be thankful that the USA doesn't use a different system for time.
Aydin Zahedi but china does
Aydin Zahedi and north korea
@@jacobisaacs600 What?!?!?!?!
Oh, but we found a way to dates differently too, cuz we've been fiercely independent, trouble-making freedom fighters since 7/4/1776!
Hush! Don't give them the idea!
12 inches = one foot, 3 feet = 1 yard, 1760 yards = 1 mile
1km = 1000m, 1m = 100cm, 1cm = 10mm
Yeah, consistency is the key for keeping the US system. I'm not even starting with the units for mass.
You left out 3 barleycorns in an inch, 220 yards in a furlong, and 8 furlongs in a mile! :)
That’s imperial, not US customary, furlongs are only used in horse racing
When you grow up with the metric system they are as relatable as imperial. A centimetre is my pinky width, a meter is head to arm length. Once kids are raised on it it becomes inherent.
You could say the same for US customary.
1 degree Celsius is 1/100 of the temperature difference between freezing point and boiling point, that is awesomely intuitive, what does a degree in Fahrenheit mean? Do you even know?
@@alanwake8298 Fahrenheit degrees are smaller and therefore more precise. It's a _long way_ from freezing to boiling, and a mere 100 degrees isn't enough to adequately cover it. The result is very large degrees that are too big for the purpose.
Humans are very temperature-sensitive and a relatively small change in temperature can feel like a big difference. The large, clumsy Celsius degrees aren't able to properly reflect these differences with an adequate level of precision.
@@Milesco You can’t feel just 1ºC difference
@@Sims64340 Oh, yes I can. I can even feel 1º Fahrenheit under the right conditions.
I try to use my central air conditioner as little as possible, but when it gets warm enough for me to "pull the trigger", I set the thermostat for one degree Fahrenheit lower than the current temperature. It takes about half an hour for the a/c to reach that new temp, so it's clearly not an insignificant amount of heat energy being removed. And I can feel the difference. If I were to use Celsius degrees, I would have to adjust my thermostat by half a degree (if that's even possible), which seems mildly ridiculous.
And in a more general sense, the large size of Celsius degrees means that fairly large differences in temperature don't get adequately represented in Celsius. For example, going from 68º Fahrenheit to 85º is a pretty large difference. From cool to fairly hot. But that's only 20º to 29º in Celsius. That's not enough of a numerical range to adequately express the difference in how it feels.
My bedroom is 57 sticks and 11 pebbles squared
Which pebbles??
@@AJarOfYams The standard ones... Dumball
@@AJarOfYams the round ones
@@AJarOfYams the ones in his backyard😂
And a gallon of gas is 3.57 shmekels .
Me: So how big is your house?
Americans: 6 football fields per gun in one farenheit
Nightfury Matthew, Americans make jokes about other countries all the time 🙂 don’t make it a double standard.
@Nightfury Matthew you are too wrong I don't know what to say
@Nightfury Matthew r/wooosh
I laughed too hard at this comment. Oh god.
@Nightfury Matthew yeah you can. Everything can be joked about. Absolutely everything. America is no different. In fact, at the current political moment, America is a fucking joke 😂
American makes jokes about everyone else so you have to take it as well.
1 km = 1000 meters
1 mile = 5280
How the hell is that more consistent?!?? 😭
5280 what? Potatoes. But i agree with you.
@@iulius22265280 feet or 1760 yards = 1 mile
@@iulius2226My teachers:
When I was visiting US, the whole "gallons" thing drove insane....it is completely absurd
A gallon is something you not bout to drink in one sitting so tf you confused about
@@tyrillcelestine7096 he said visiting, you think visiting US is just one sitting and leave to other country?
Nothing absurd about it. It's just a unit of measurement. Yes it's not the same as what you're accustomed to. So what? When you're in Rome, you do as the Romans do.
@@tyrillcelestine7096 Lmaooooo.
It's not absurd if you use it every day.
World: 1m=100cm.
USA: 1 foot=4 baby's feet.
What the f?
World: 1 cm=10 mm
USA: 1 inch= 3 baby's thumb
Rest of the world: 1km = 1000m
USA: WeLl iF yOU wAnT tO rEmEmBeR hOw mAnY feET tHeRe aRe iN a mILe jUsT rEmEmBeR "five tomatoes" bEcAuSe iDk
😂😂😂😂
@@mw-cp4cl metric system has just "centi-", "kilo-" and a lot of others, but you just have to know that centi means 100 times smaller and kilo 1000 times larger. The only thing for you to remember is how many zeros to add, based on the begging of the word. In American the word Inch has nothing to do with Foot when it comes to the name, so it's hard to figure out that it's 12. At least that's my opinion.
“But, around half of our audience is American. So if we say somethin in centimeters or kilograms, it could trip up a lot of our viewers.”
Other half of your viewers: “Am I a joke to you?”
WhiTE SupErMacY.
Jk.
No, they are just confident you are intelligent enough to apply conversion.
Haha so true
@@freshbbqftw
"their nonsensical ways"
FTFY
The American half is not totally comfortable with imperial system either.
I like when he said that HALF of his viewers are US - so they use imperial. So US half is more important that other HALF.
G R E A T
Because the channel is American and they’re only looking out for themselves. Selfish but that’s America!
Lol ikr
United States customary units, not British Imperial units.
I guess the rest of the world should stop their videos then, only Liberia and Myanmar people are allowed
US Half must be their new Unit.
Lol.
Even Nasa use Metric System for their missions...metric dominate the universe man.
SI dominates Science.
@@srikrishna2561 Si is basically speciallised metric
Is because “the accident “ that happen in nasa
Too bad one of their suppliers didn't.
don't tell them, because they think there are two types of people: those who use metric, and those who went to the moon
The rest of the world: “How tall are you?”
US: “I’m 5 feet 7”
The rest of the world: “Whose feet? Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s or Peter Dinkley’s?”
In Aus we use feet and inches for height, but cm are also acceptable
Same in the UK, and we weigh ourselves in stones which even the yanks don't use.
Megan Pinch same in canada
@@helloworld0911 What kind of stones? Lime stone? Granit? Holy cow, did not know that.
It don't matter ya fucking manlet
World: What is your shoe's size?
American: one foot
Epic
12 inches huh.......
Fabio Teixeira well one foot is really small size
This American would ask what country is it made on ?
Kenneth Luedtke Jr made in China
Liberia in East Africa, Myanmar (former Burma) in Southeast Asia and the US in North America are the last three outposts of this planet still refusing to go metric.
Myanmar is changing too.
Liberia is in West Africa.
I'm a woodworker, from Europe working in the US. For those who say the imperial system makes sense, I say 1' 11 5/8", 8' 2 23/32", 15/16"
...
What the fuc-
What's that? Metric please.
oooh, fractions are scary?👻👻👻
Working with fractions I found myself having to convert it to decimal anyway before calculating. So fractional inches are not so much precise as deferring the problem to a later time.
Americans don't understand metric system, But ironically they understand what 9mm is.
No country that uses the metric system has put a man on the moon.
Americans learn both.
@@basshead. but are the machine that land on the moon use metric ? Yes.
@@basshead. foolish specious statement.
@@gorkym8864 No, Americans in general learn both. In science class/science in general or engineering, we use metric. For every day life where exact measurements don't really matter we use imperial. Kids learn metric in school. Has been the case for a long time.
Half your audience is Metric, almost everyone on the planet uses metric, so you'll not use metric? Makes sense.
Implicitly he said americans are cry babies, while the rest of the world will watch the video anyway
If their country of origin uses imperial why not use it?
It's no different then any other cultural influence that may apear in a video.
@People said my Username was Offensive are u really sure? "this channel was meant to Americans"? if this was my channel. than i would prefer worldwide
@@MuhammadNaufalyw americans make up a very big chunk of social media compared to any other audiences
Am not an american and we use the imperial system
Son : Dad. It's so cold.
Imperial Dad : Let's go to the corner. I heard it’s 90 degrees
Metric Mom : No. It's gonna get us killed
Son : Am I adopted ?
My mother asked what I weighed. I told her. She said "whats that in stones & pounds?" I looked in horror & asked "what on earth is a stone?" Bahahaha. A stone!
Isn’t it just a kilogram?
@@MattWyndham 1 stone = 6.35029318 kg
But that depends on which stone you pick. Pebbles, bricks, gemstones, boulders, ...
I guess all stones in the US have the same mass, that's the most reasonable explanation. XD
@@McTofuwuerfel Stones as a unit of measure isn't commonly used in the US. It's more used in the UK.
"Imperial is consistent because a foot is the same size as a human foot."
wtf? I didn't know Americans all had the same size feet.
It makes shoe shopping easier, they always have the same size
Na the brits had same size feet cuz the foot comes from ye olden kingly days. nice try tho.
-RobloxGodFox - but an inch is one thumb so do all Americans have a thumb that’s one inch wide and do ye line up 6 people to measure a foot?
Most feet are around 10 inches in length. Since this is close enough to a foot, it's still really easy to estimate rather than a meter.
I also hope you realize that saying 'all Americans' you're referring to everybody in North America, only one of which (the US) uses the imperial system.
I live in the UK, and yet this comment still does not humor me.
It's (ABOUT) the same size as a human's foot.
Oh yeh, a foot makes sense because *everyone's* feet are the same size right??
Horsepower, is it a big horse or a small horse?
Stone, is it granite or limestone?
Lol
@@kevliong2952 your point??
@@kevliong2952 except the official measure is Kilowatt *instead of HP, what are stones?
@@kevliong2952 are you dump
They should rename the video as "Excuses to not use both mesures unities on our videos"
In Europe we use metric almost everywhere. The only exception that comes to my mind is screens. For some reason size of a phone or TV screen is measured in inches.
Because of the "influence" of the USA.
and as a oI'm so confused, I would prefer using the metryc system also for the screen XD
You can call a meter a "leg" or a "torso" if that makes it easier for you. Everest, 8.8 klegs
I also call a meter taking one large step, because usually, the distance between your feet is 1 meter, so you can call a meter a big step or just a step.
ahhahahhahahahhaahhahaha nice one
It's a common knowledge in my country that one meter is the distance from you shoulder to the tip of your fingers with the arm parallel to the ground. You are welcome :D
I once read the forum on this topic and people complained that traditional measures are just used to trick customers. Like, how do you multiply or, god forbid, divide into twelve in your mind?
Oh shieet here we go again
HAHAHAHAHA
You are a science channel therefore you should use “science” meassures. In my opinion
True
I wouldn't go so far as to say they "should" because their goal audience is not of scients, but I do agree that it would make much sense if they did use metric because they are trying to inform normal people about science and metric is a (important) part of science.
@@frank7411 You've just given a good argument as to why Verge SHOULD use Metric in its videos.
Like, I think some things “should” not be discused like useing metric when talking about science. Beaculse then you can say Hey, why do not we use binary computers use them why should not we. I know it is a little far fetched but you get the point.
Oh No! Temperatures in Kelvin?
How much heat does take to boil water
The world :100 °c
Us: I don't really care
"It's consistent"
but, 2 people can have completly differently shaped feet, and a feet is the length of a foot...
good one there guys
But a "foot" *_isn't_* the length of a person's foot. It is a well-defined unit, and has been for centuries.
The "consistency" comes from the fact that Europe, up until the mid-19th century, had hundreds of different measurement systems that varied from kingdom to kingdom and even from town to town, while in the United States, we had ONE system that was consistent throughout the entire nation.
I JUST WANT COOKING RECIPES IN GRAMS
cups isn’t a sensible unit for flour
Totally agree
There are realy cup units? :D
4 cups of broccoli and 2 cups of carrots... I don’t even know what that sort of measurement means
@@Susedis yes.
They use "cups" and "spoons" (a lot of different spoons) to measure for cooking.
Which makes no sense as it is a very inaccurate way to measure things.
So, look for european recipes
“If you have a body; you can use these measures”
Ah yes, because all human feet are the same length
This one just didn't make sense. Yes you can use them, but only as a rough meusurement. The moment it has to mean something you have to get out a tool.
This is literally what everyone does and has no connection to what system you use.
Roughly, yes.
@@gabrielclark1425 Yeah, and because it's only a rough estimate and varies, it was decided to switch to metric to get rid of all these variations, worldwide. Well, except for that one kid with special needs ...
@@group555_ That's the point. The U.S. uses metric when it counts... Military, government, businesses, and the scientific community. How often is the average Joe going to need exact measurements in their day-to-day life, not that often.
@@FrozenMod no but my point is that a system being based on body properties is not a valid point for it being a better system.
For the average joe metric is better because the increments of powers of 10 lead to way fewer mistakes and an easier time working with it in generall.
The rest of the world: How big is your house?
US: You know, about the size of half a football field
It's called square feet, in case you didn't know. Also, a house that big would be a mansion. Most people, not even in the US, have houses that big. Justin Beiber and Donald Trump might have houses that big, but most Americans don't.
When i was a teenager and trying to use imperial system just for fun, i got so confused and and asking myself: Why using two different measeures types, feet and inch for mensuring lenght? Makes no sense. The metric system is so simple. Why just not use it?
What I only learnt recently is a a US cup is 236ml while it’s 250ml everywhere else
*☝THIS👆*
English vs US gallons too :)
Also their drink cans are 355 ml instead of 333 or 250 like in Europe
I didnt know
according to the FDA: For purposes of nutrition labelling, 1 cup means 240 mL (21 CFR 101.9(b)(5)(viii)). so the us cup is sometimes 236 and sometimes 240.
When I'm 50, I'll have a house that's two bus stops long and three subway stations wide.
😅🤣🤣🤣🤣
Don't laugh. Look up the definition if furlong and acre.
Well i did. So
See it makes sense because everybody can relate!
This is basically the US Imperial system.
3:22
Cat be sneaking in the back
3:41
Lol this guy and things sneaking whenever he talks
I love how the cat photobombs the interview! He knows exactly where to sit and where to look!
But you are a "science channel" why not use metric then on screen imperial units.
what he is trying to say that they explains science to normal people of US too who dont understand metrics
Wow........
What do you mean? They put examples of both metric and imperial
@@piyushpawar6196 Means most of normal ppl in the US don't understand science as well LOL
@@ornachia2489 because you need the metric system to understand science, wow yes, good point
You forgot 1 detail though. Metric is consistant through distance/mass/volume. A cube with 1dm on each size, can hold 1l of distilled water and it would weigh 1kg. Metric is far more consistent in that sense (not just the decimal base mentioned).
I wouldn't be surprised if the Verge journalists genuinely don't know this.
Cool cool cool. That has rarely, if ever, be an issue.
*At STP
@@cameraman502 That actually is very useful if you have ever taken basicly any Chemistry or Physics class
@@petrkos164 So it's consistency is of little consequence and is outside the normal experience of people's experience. Hence rarely, if ever, an issue. Put another way, utility in HS chemistry is not a good reason for most things.
Depending on what you are doing you can use either one. If I use a recipe from my mom's old cookbook it's in ounces, if I get one out of a my wife's Russian cookbook it's in grams and ml. Turn the measuring cup around and use the other side, it's just a line on the scale. Then throw in a pinch more because in the end the right amount is by feel or taste.
Americans when they see velocity measured in kilometers per hour instead of diabetics per calculator
Point 1: The imperial System just makes more sense and is more consistent.
Point 3: Scientists were so annoyed by the inconsistencies in imperial they created metric.
Well...
@@jaredscott3133 could you elaborate on that?
@@jaredscott3133 I'm sorry u are implying it's easier than metric in an everyday setting. As a person who sees measurements in meter, gram and Celsius everyday.
What makes imperial better? You can train yourself to look at the metric system without any hassle or difficulty.
Jared Scott For daily use, any units are good since we are so used to it.
You are getting confused with those 2 points. He's saying that back in the 18th century imperial system in USA was more precise and accurate than metric, but for scientists the possibility of making all those units using only a few basics are much more vital feature + nowadays we have much more accuracy in meters and kilos than in the past.
...more sense like trump is a descent human being.
Sooo... let me get this straight..... a foot has 12 thumbs? I always thought it had 5 toes. Maybe I've been doing it wrong.
ajajajajjaja Noice
Metric system
Instead of saying "the whole nine yards", we would have to say "the whole 8.229600 meters".
😂
johnbenson222 Nah you’d round down because colloquial situation. So just 8m
mann, please don't introduce new units.. they'll adapt that too.. anything but the metric..
Ever bought a 2 liter bottle of soda? There ya go...
Yep, all the time.
LOL 😂
Never step out of usa?There ya go
how did you convert surfaces and volumes in geometry at school? To convert from Inch² to feet² or yards²? Or cubic?
If you have an area of 76252in² how do you convert it into ft² or yards²?
Nobody has an answer.. :D
Around half your audience is American so you have to use American units?! what about the other half of us? and the entire science community, verge SCIENCE?
The verge science are just a bunch of petty salty people. I bet they won't acknowledge this. I think American are like community who live in a white picket fence and thinks that the world revolve around them.
Bug off
5:40 theres your answer
They literally said that the metric systems were invented by Scientists. That should give them enough reason to switch
@@maganashaker167 our scientists almost EXCLUSIVELY use metric, it's even in the video!
Once I took a peek on an Autocad manual. There were 17 pages explaining how to reduce something to 1/10 scale using imperial measures. Then, on the last page, the last paragraph said 'with metric system, just divide each measure by 10.'
LMAO.
Im a young Architect, I thank God everyday that we use the metric system. Just divide or multiply by 10.
It's not hard, in engineering we typically use decimal inch. *shrugs*
@@kevinmiller8111 So it's just metric system but with human body parts. Macabre, LMAO.
@@azarilh2355 it is metric system, but with the wrong measures.
Whenever I buy larger bottles of soft drinks, they're in liters. So there's that.
And 1600 meters and 1 mile are very very similar in length.
Thanks for a clear explanation - I'll be using this for my homeschool class; always a homeschooler, not a virus newbie :-) - I'll be skipping the first few seconds tho', they're younger kids.
Just remember that NASA lost a multimillion dollar Climate Orbiter on Mars because the scientists and engineers messed up the conversion
Yes, but that wasn't Nasa fault because they have more or less always used metric. It was Lockheed Martin that built the probe and took some numbers as imperial instead of metric.
Because messing up basic math wouldn't have any other side effects on a rocket design.
Yes because they tried to use metric. metric is evil. The only country that went to the Moon used Imperial. Americans will never ever use metric. If third world countries want to use it that's fine.
D K
Nasa used metric for all apollo missions
@@skippityblippity8656 But America used(uses) Imperial, and that's what really matters.
WHY DIDN'T WE JUST LISTEN TO THOMAS JEFFERSON WHEN WE HAD THE CHANCE
This comment should be higher up. - Cory
@@VergeScience Pin it! :P
Because he was sneaky, didn’t see hamilton yet?
someone from Fox News probably ridiculed it
@@diva1675 Nah...because you're obstinate.
I've used it, metric is good in some situations, not all. A mix of the 2 systems is optimal
Yep, especially building rocket missions - ruclips.net/video/lcYkOh4nweE/видео.html
tbh units are relatable as long as you grow used to them. Sure i CAN'T find a meter in my body, but I've just learnt it's a very long step. I also knowe if i put my thumb and index just at the right distance i get a centimeter, and when i hold a bottle of water i can tell there's 1'5kg there.
Europe: That's 2 meters long.
America: tHaTs 8 bUrGeRs wIdE!
Which burgers? McDonalds or Burger King?
caav56 hungry jacks
I laughed too hard at this lol
Not Europe, the whole world
America and sumo wrestlers*:
“The US system has always been a little more accessible than metric.” - That’s very subjective and might be true to people that grew up with imperial measurements. But ask anyone in Europe, and they will have a pretty natural understanding of what one meter, one kilogram, or one liter is. Saying that imperial is easier is just a very American-centric opinion and completely ignores everyone else on the planet. Both systems are easy for those who grew up with it; and the other one is always very confusing for those that didn’t.
And actually, as per your reason 3, there shouldn’t be a second thought about what units to use as a default: Half of your audience fully understands metric, and if America is already unofficially metric, then you can please everyone by using metric by default in your messaging. And for those that didn’t catch up with metric yet, include the imperial measurements additionally on the screen (in addition to the metric values, and not the other way around).
Also the flawd argument "If you have a body you can understand the imperial system"; well, If you are a giant maybe, cause the length of foot is nowhere close to the average human. And what ounces and miles are suppose to measure and compare to, according to this logic?
Yeah exactly what I think.
Even because the video only picked foot and inch. How can a measure a yard with my body, a mile.. measure area, volume... It's just a nightmare. We already had a rocket accident because of this non sense.
And also have the tourists, every time I go to eua it's hard to know if my car needs to refuel or not because I don't have idea if 2 gallons per mile it's enough or not.. finally how to measure tiny things, and the measures of tools.. everything it's a fraction..
Ignoring the others in the replies, I actually agree with your conclusion. I’m American and naturally am more accustomed to our system, but as with most of us, I don’t immediately get lost and confused if someone says a measurement in meters or something. Most of us have at least some understanding of both systems so it’s fine by me if a video primarily uses metric, preferably with imperial on screen.
Despite the fact that everyone tries to call us the stubborn ones, I see WAY more complaints from Europeans on imperial videos than I see complaints from Americans on metric videos, which makes sense. After all, between the two groups we’re the only ones who were required to learn both systems in school, and the only ones who use both in our daily lives, so I’m in favor of using metric in these settings since it seems it would confuse the fewest people.
No cause America
Indeed, imperial units are still widely used in the UK but I don’t have any natural sense of what they are because I was taught metric in school
I stumbled on this video after looking up "us metrication", and here's my 2 pennies:
In my home country, the Philippines, we are for the most part already on metric. But US customary units are still being used in some contexts (for instance, we quote our height in feet/inches, and some products are dual-labelled in metric & US customary).
Don’t hold your breath for full on metric conversion. I remember when the Congress signed a law in 1975 to “voluntarily” go metric - I recall it very well because I had a class in my freshman year of HS on the metric system - I got an A. Here it is forty eight years later - and unless something changes the US is about as metric as it will ever be - now if they started teaching metric in school starting with kindergarten - in about twenty to thirty years after that - the US might really go metric. However the whole metric temperature system isn’t the best. It’d be really hard to think 37 sounds hot like 100.
Yes, you are right, as long as metric is not taught from an early age, but USC is taught. Then the USA won't change to metric. The second reason why the USA won't change is cultural. The USC is seen an American. And third reason: the USC works well in practice. If you measure a wooden beam in feet and/ or inches, why would you use meters of centimeters? You are used to the USC system, so you stick to it.
20 years ago my country the Netherlands switched from the Guilders to the Euro. What a mess it was. What used to cost 100 Guilders, was now only 45 Euros. It took a long time before I had the new Euro prices for all stuff in my head.
You forgot the US military which has used metric for decades. Even before Vietnam. Why?. Because all it's allies use it.
And because it's a more consistent system, which is kind of really important when you want to send missiles to a very specific point.
Oh, and because it's better.
Indeed, freedom is delivered in metric
And how many wars, exactly, has the US military actually WON while using the metric system? Zero, is how many.
@@farmalmta actually, we have been using the metric system since 1918 in the military, and won every single war with the metric system (except vietnam, cause ya know, we lost, at least politically)
"A foot is just a foot". But it isn't though. That's the point.
It's not like we actually use our feet to measure things.
Most feet are shorter than 12 inches, anyway. Unless you've got big feet, your measurements are always going to be short.
Must make shoe shopping easy over there, just gonna buy my new born, my wife and 7 foot tall relative the same 12 inch shoe seeing as they all have the same size feet, apparently.
@@P0YAIS 7 foot tall relative? a kid's foot? Michael Jordan's foot?
Temaran but it is though. Because it's close enough. That's the point.
Hah I actually am familiar with both metric and imperial because I lived in Canada for two years. Once you understand the metric system it does make more sense than Imperial. However I notice Canadians use both, they seem to use KM or meters for distance but feet for height and they almost always use pounds over kilograms. The weirdest thing tho is I noticed Canadians use Fahrenheit indoors but Celsius outdoors lol 🤷🏽♂️.
Personally I don't mind a separate measurement in parentheses but I have one UK cookbook where they had no clue what they wanted to do. It had cups ounces and grams listed for each ingredient. Luckily some recipe writers are starting to just put gram measurements in parentheses after listing the cup measurement.
There is only one reason, their ego is larger than anyone else.
That's a legit point.
Whole world :Football/Cricket.
America :Basketball /American football.
Whole world :SI/Metric system.
America :Imperial system.
They are very egoistic and that's fact.
Yah that's the real reason nothing else, they think they can use whatever they want and whatever they use is the right thing even if the whole world uses something else
@@nafeeahnaf6296 Or maybe it is more just people following tradition, and there is no popular sentiment to change.
Nafee Ahnaf Siraj So if the majority of the world kill themselves that means that you should to because everyone else did it?
Ankit Wawage Or mabey because it’s one of our traditions and the fact of how much it would cost to switch out weighs the benefits as every school in America would have to buy new books and new programs that are metric which would cost millions.
Wikipedia: "The ounce is a unit of mass, weight, or volume"
They are not even sure of what they are doing!!!!!!
To be fair, even other than america, people use Kilograms for weight, not Newtons
@@harishganesan3575 it's killogram force it's a different unit defined as 9.81... Newtons
Or the force a 1kg mass would create on Earth G.
@@harishganesan3575 for earth's surface, it could make sense. But volume and weight are not at all interchangeable! Not even while making a goddamn cake!
@@HAWXLEADER yeah. An ounce force will also make sense right ??
@@abhisheksoni2980 the point i was trying to make was mass and weight are universally used interchangeably.. but yeah volume and mass doesnt make much sense.
“Americas units were just more consistent”
One word: LOL
I don’t understand what they mean by that. It just means the system is not self-contradictory. True, but that’s true of any system of measurement. The various units have to fit together to be useful.
I remember going on vacation to Canada when I was 12, and it was April, but heard how it can still be cold there even then. I heard one morning there that it was 7 degrees outside and I thought "Oh my god, it's bitter cold out there today and I'm going to freeze and get numb fingers and ears". But then when we went outside and it was feeling fairly comfortably cool and not the raw bitter cold I was expecting, and it made me then think for a moment "man, I've sure learned to handle very cold weather better, it's not so bad out here at all". But it was then I learned that it was 7 degrees celcius out there and not farenheit, and that 7 degrees celcius is 44 degrees farenheit. Next winter back home in the US, I still found temperatures of around 7 degrees farenheit too cold to handle and still got numb fingers and ears from it
Not to talk about Americans having holiday in Canada and putting their cruise control on the highway to 100 miles per hour beleving Canada traffic signs are in miles while obviously are in km per hour since a big ticket was waiting for them being 100 km/h 62 miles per hour...😁😁
@@3dvorator I wonder how many Americans have actually done that
If the US will go metric anyway, than why don't you accelerate that change by having metric measurements in your videos?
Yep, I've noticed that other US based science channels use metrics and don't even give conversions.
Fran K its just the context of the subject. If they start using metric measurements for the speed of a car. Then they would lose US viewers. If they talk about milk in liters that would turn us off. Escape velocity, use US units, as our culture is ingrained with the use of our measuring system for the space program. If they do a show on construction techniques use our system. Our housing sector, construction/home improvement is done in inches and feet. When we talk about pies or pizza we talk in fractions. Our schooling is design to use our units for measurement. Even scientist us the fractional system in expressing mathematical formulas.
@@frank7411 So right!
Because you either have a mental picture of what the words represent or you don't. I've walked miles, but I can't say how far a kilometer is. That means the metric system is just words. If your bragging about the size of your Johnson, it sounds much larger in millimeters, but size isn't everything. Too bad the french didn't know this .
This is going to turn into a cooking and construction channel?
2:15 "America's units were just more consistent."
5:52 "America was worried about the inconsistencies in the system they were already using"....
It helped that there was no Germany and that in the area where German like languages were spoken a lot of different measures were used. So a "Zoll" (inch) was different almost everywhere but had the same name and that helped in introducing the French metric system when it was there. I think that is what they mean in 2:15 .However that happened centuries ago.
@@mathiaslist6705 The main reason the French introduced the metric system was to standardize. Every town, region, or village of France had some sort of a different measurement. An Inch in Brest was different from an Inch in Nica, and an Inch in Metz was different from the previous two, etc.
This was the case all over Europe probably.
@@vedran5582 And then napoleon came forcing a big part of europe into the metric system
@@arnaudgauthier9888 non. Même pas... Le Portugal a été l'un des premiers pays à choisir le système métrique. Et l'a fait librement. Il y a aussi le cas de l'Allemagne qui s'est convertie au système métrique après sa victoire de 1871 sur la France. La France n'était pas en position d'imposer le système métrique à ce moment...et Napoléon était mort depuis bien longtemps...
D'ailleurs la période napoléonienne est une periode où le système métrique a régressé en France et les anciennes mesures ont été rétablies.
La France n'a pas imposé "son système" au reste du monde. C'est même le premier pays à avoir fait l'effort d'adopter un nouveau système sans aucun rapport avec le(s) précédent(s). C'est en ce sens que le système métrique a été conçu pour être universel. Chaque état avait le même effort à faire. Y compris l'état créateur.
Effort que les USA refusent obstinément de faire en inventant toutes les excuses imaginables...
Proof of the consistency of their opinions ; )
a meter is 2 arm lengths, or a big step
or just use cm if you need something more precisely. I have a shoe size 40-41cm, which also means my forehand from elbow to wrist is also 40-41cm which also means my open hand span is also 40-41cm.
Tricks exist everywhere, the difference from feet is instead of metre it's simply not called "twice the average arm length" unit, and the fact is, it's consistent across all units and makes other things really convinient.
“Consistency matters far more than what unit you are using.” So true. That statement gets to the crux of the issue.
"Half of our audience is American"
That means the other half is not.
Q: John Smith has 2 apples. Jean-Luc Dupont also has 2 apples. Who has more apples?
A: John
typical US mentality
Sounds like Jean-Luc Dupont's country could use some democracy...
@@MrJosephAnthonySilva Well if you're dissing France, I'm not French, so I have no idea what you're talking about
r/whooosh
@@MrJosephAnthonySilva r/ihavereddit
The benefit of metric is not that you can shift the comma, it is that units are connected: psi is unrelated to feet, watt is unrelated to any other imperial unit while it is Joules/second or newton*meter/second and so on. It just makes understanding physics way easier (example: in metric torque*rpm is power in watt, no conversion needed, but it is also Voltage*amps, linking electricity to mechanical power. In imperial all that connection is lost). I think that fact is so underrated.
This is not something most Americans care about. I don't want to be overly hostile towards Americans but there are a lot of them that don't give a damn about science, or even actively oppose it. "Muh traditions" is infinitely more convincing an argument than "it makes science more understandable" to many if not most Americans
@@exantiuse497 Many if not most anericians would be befuddled by telling them watts can be converted into horsepower. Electric cars have no chance here!
@@robertl.fallin7062 only people who don't work in trades or science and medicine say that.
Most Americans, especially those working in medicine, sciences and trades want the metric system - doing any type of scientific work or trade work and medical measurements is so much simpler.
This is the correct answer.
One important factor (so to speak) of traditional measures is that larger magnitudes can be more easily be divided up into smaller ones. Both meters and feet easily divide by 2 (50 cm, 6 inches), but not so easily by thirds (33.3333 cm, 4 inches). In cooking, measures are largely binary. The traditional, domain-specific systems evolved to be convenient on the job or at the market in the days before calculators. Some of these systems are so apt that even today has been little if any impetus toward metric in spite of their imperfections: dates and times (these were part of early metric proposals and experimented with at the time of the French Revolution).
I haven't watched the video yet. I learned both systems in school early on. I'm 22 always lived in the states and see no issue using metric compared to my parents. Besides driving I've made wooden things with tight fits and currently work in automotive. Both units work with the right knowledge and understanding
fun facts:
-- 1 liter of water weighs 1 kilogram and fills a 10 x 10 x 10 centimeter cube.
-- Water freezes at 0° Celsius and boils at 100° Celsius.**
-- 1 kilometer = 1000 meters, 1 meter = 1000 millimeters = 100 centimeters.
wouldn't you love a system like that?
** conditions apply
i would inject myself with that system if i could... of course measured in ml
1 ounce (mass) of water is also 1 ounce (volume) at atmospheric pressure and just below boiling (US) or at room temperature (UK).
1 cubic meter of water = 1 Metric tonne = 1000 kilograms
1GB=1000MB
@@MrZog-yv3be 1GB = 1000MB
1GiB = 1024MiB
Come to Canada where someone who's 5 foot 10 will put a couple litres of gas in their car to drive a few kilometers to buy a couple pounds of butter.
My best friend moved to Canada for a couple years, where worked at a meat market. He said it was a nightmare with measurements. Shipments came in pounds, then converted to kilograms, then sold in ounces, etc. I remember him telling me all about that. Basically, I got ya bro.
If only most Canadians could afford a couple pounds of butter!
Welcome to the UK lol
corrda1993 Canada is just not yet America
😂😂👌
In machine design, people have been switching to metric ball bearings and fasteners due to cost, but raw materials like steel tubing and bars still have better availability in inch sizes.
Everyone in the rest of the world knows how to step 1 meter in length
Is the US really the only country which uses miles instead of kilometers, pounds instead of kilograms, and farenheit instead of celcius?
@@alvexok5523 yes lmao
@@camerongray7767 Well, I do agree that the metric system of measurements make more sense, 10 millimeters to a centimeter, 10 centimeters to a decimeter, 10 decimeters to a meter, and all the way to kilometer. The same system is used with grams. It's not layed out orderly like that with inches, feet, miles, ounces, and pounds
The "facade" will melt away when public institutions switch to metric. The media, like Verge, is a public institution. We, US citizens, will learn to use metric _if Verge uses metric._ Your problem is solved: use metric now.
exactly! by all means add on screen alternatives, but someone has to be a part of that facade crumbling & it should be channels like this
My thoughts exactly!
Thank you Hunter Hogan, you have single-handedly destroyed the imperial system and now every American uses metric. Thank you for your service
came to the comments to say this
Hunter Hogan Americans are not going to pay more for gasoline by switching from gallons to liters.
A science channel but refuse to use measurements for science. What?
Agree
a youtube comment, but refuse to watch the youtube clip?
There is no such thing as a set "measurement for science". Just because a lot of scientist use metric does not make it any better. In fact for many things it doesn't work well.
@@DK-jd8bj No. Metric is clearly better than the imperial system. Conversions are so much easier. You have a millimeter, which is 1/1000 of a meter. A centimeter is 1/100 of a meter. A meter is 1/1000 of a kilometer. Much simpler than the imperial system. 1 inch is 1/12 of a foot. A foot is 1/5280 of a mile? Because that makes sense.
D K Easier conversions and more precise. How is imperial ever better?
Must be a reason why the US military uses Kilo for K in their alphabet.
And the Army and Marines are uses kilometers, not miles. Klicks is the term.
Metric has 7 basic units, which can make up all other units. All of those basic units are defined by the laws of physics.
Yes - as of 20 May 2019.
FrodoOne1 When has the last advancement in the imperial system been made?
@@mrjakobt Probably "The Weights and Measures Act 1985", which defined Imperial measures in terms of SI Units.
"1 metre is not relatable"
*uses yards*
WHatA HeLl iS a yARd
The length of a stick of wood in a Paris museum is the most accurate, precise unit of measurement?
@@rogerhill3984 all metric measurements are now measured by universal constants. Meaning that one metre is now how much light travels in a certain amount of time.
Easy: 36 inches
A meter is bigger than a yard
lol, "metric" is "controversial"? never heard that one, I wish teachers in our schools said that we were learning something controversial...
Yeah, what? Controversial?
How can a system like that be controversial? It's simple, it's precise, it's easy to learn.
What else do people need?
Try getting everyday average Americans to use the metric system and then say it's not controversial.
LOL, indeed.
@@thedude4672 Maybe americans are controversal! ;)
jk.
neither do I.
Lagger Onesixfour It May be easy to learn, but imperial units are easier. It’s just that imperial units do not convert very well to decimals to do math with them.
3:05 I love that the footage you kept for the driving montage included this likely drunk driver in front of you
No worse they are on their phone.
Why couldn’t we have just made a mile 6000 or 5000 feet?
The Roman mile was 5000 feet. It was changed to 5280 feet in the time of Elizabeth I, when the land survey system was developed, to get greater divisibility. To see how surveying was organized, research the US Public Land Survey System. Sections of one square mile are divided down to acres of 66 feet by 660 feet. The latter is a furlong, which is derived from “furrow long.” That is the length that is plowed by an ox before resting while the plow is turned.
so conclusion is... the smart people in america have already switched. lol
Hi verge science
Pretty much, and that's all that matters. Foreigners really shouldn't get so hung up on American roads being measured in miles.
Everyone in America knows the metric system. It's taught in school. Used in science courses. We use both systems and utilize them for different things.
@@buntings Everyone in America? lol
@total loss Well car makers, planes, copters, Nasa, engineers, doctors, etc all use metric. Check your pill prescription next time.
1m³ of water= 1000 litres =1000kg = 1 ton
1ft³ = no fricking clue mate = nfcm= nfcm= nfcm
It's called a Metric Ton, not a "ton," as that's ambiguous. Also, a cubic of water weights 62.4 lbs, and has a capacity of 7.48 gallons.
Quite easy to remember actually.
@@michaeldavis2531 what?
A ft^3 would be something the size of your head. It would reasonably fit in your hand.
After feet you go to yards. (There is no decimal-conversion to the next unit. You just go TO the next unit.) A yard is the length from your fingers on one hand, to the fingers on your other hand. If you had a yard^3 you would have a box/space you could sit in. Or, a container you could pick up by yourself, depending on its weight of course.
After yards; is miles. It takes about 20 minutes to walk a mile. A reasonable distance/time for travelling on foot; which is why it was chosen as a measurement.
The imperial system is based more around milestones than exact measurements.
It doesn't measure how much sugar to put in our tea. Our units measure how much sugar makes the tea sweet.
@@bikinibro Also, conveniently, if you were traveling at a highway speed of 60 mph, and your destination was 45 miles away, then it'd take you exactly 45 minutes to travel their at highway speed, since there's 60 minutes in an hour. You don't get this in metric countries, as their highway speed limits are 100 - 110 km/h, and there aren't 100 minutes in an hour, so it makes it far less convenient.
@@michaeldavis2531 *Tonne
In Ireland like the UK we use both. For example, if we are measuring height we tend to use feet. We also use inches more frequently than Cm. Most people when referring to distance, and this is especially the case w/ the older generation, will use miles or yards. If I’m going into the butchers for example I ask for whatever meat I’m buying in Ibs. If I’m baking I’ll often use ounces. So, though we are metric we use imperial in day to day life.
Although when it comes to measuring small things, inches don't help much. "3⁷/₁₆ inches".
Some inch rulers use decimal inches to solve this issue.
Then you have never observed micro inch surface plates. You don't know everything.
A metal rule marked in inches and hundredths measures with about as much precision as can be achieved by that method. For greater precision, you can use a vernier caliper or a micrometer. My vernier caliper measures to 1/1000 inch. Precision does not depend on units.
Americans, they kicked the British king out but kept his feet for measuring distance
British people still use the Imperial system every day. Ask someone how tall he is or how heavy he is: he'll say something like "I'm six foot two and just over 16 stone." "Where's the Post Office?" "Oh, it's about a hundred yards down the road." "Is the river near here?" "No: it's miles away!"
@@DieFlabbergast .. In 1971 Canada also switched but it takes a while before those who learned only the imperial method eventually began using metric. The older generation still converts to imperial in their heads. A liter of milk is roughly an imperial quart etc.
Everyone under around 35 learned the metric system in school so many don't know what a mile or a yard is. Ask them where the river is and they'll say it's 5 kilometers that way, ask in miles and they'll say it's 5 kilometers and make a guess of between 3 and 8 miles.
Conversion to metric is an ongoing thing, 20 years from now it will probably be complete.
@@DieFlabbergast I was just starting school when England switched to metric. I have no problem using metric at all. It *is* easier to work with. And while it *is* true that we still use the Imperial system in our everyday vocabulary, *most* British people couldn't work anything out in fractions beyond halves and quarters.
Therefore, I would say that these days our use of the Imperial system is *mostly* linguistic.
Reptilians
You're a science channel. You should have us conversions written on-screen, but speak in metric.
@YoungD3mon314 I agree! People who don't use metric are outsiders to science. It's foolish to pander to these outsiders
@@StRanGerManY it's a POP science channel. The whole point is introducing laymen to science. As such, they kinda have to use imperial.
@YoungD3mon314 American scientist use metric, it's said right in the vid. It's a science channel, if you want to have some cred as a serious science channel you don't mess about with imperial.
@@andreibratosin And the best way to teach it is to learn them metric.
@@andreibratosin Laymen are being introduced to science in school, when they are 12-14yo. Surely the US viewers of this channel have being introduced to physics and SI units, its not completely foreign concept for them.
Actually, I'm very much curious. Does an average american never use metric system? Do they "forget" it after school? What about colledge and univercity?
I'm also curious about the imperial system myself. When I was making home renovations, I used meters, santimeters and milimeters extensively. I wonder, are there santi-inches and mili-inches?
I was confused when I saw US shows use football(the one they play with their hands🤔) stadium as a unit of measure
We don’t, except in reference to the actual game.
Microchips are often in parts of an inch, it's like: "the distance between two pins are 1.27 mm" it's a little bit strange to design the circuit board that connected to the real metric frame
It is only strange if you are using mm for a chip which was designed in inches. Many chip packages have pin spacing of 0.1 inch or 0.05 inch (1.27 mm), for example. If you used design software which supported mixed units, then it would be easy to have a board dimensioned in mm with packages and traces dimension in inches.
I suggest you use the metric system because your channel is about science, and put the numbers in american units in the video
This exactly
Also agree.
I agree 100%
You mean, on-screen conversions.
Go start your own channel. Americans don't want anything in metric.
AND GET THE DAYS/MONTHS/YEARS THE RIGHT WAY TOO !
In America a day is longer then a month or some BS.
Nah
If America does it, they won't have 4/20/69
The scientific way is YYYY/MM/DD
@@kartchampion05 The scientific publication Nature advses DD/MM/YYYY.
@@davidthom7127 The ISO advises YYYY/MM/DD though. Admittedly, me saying "The scientific way" was not necessarily correct.
We do use SI in the US and Canada. We just use them along side imperial units in this weird schizophrenic mishmash that works fine for most people.