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Insightful comment, bot those units really make me cringe. How do you do physics with those? Did you know that 1 lb in is 16 oz ft?

by carlob 12y ago

techrat 12y ago
It's too bad there isn't an educational system that exists to help us learn units throughout childhood so that we can apply them to everyday tasks in our adult lives.
abduhl 12y ago
Physics is done quite readily by using a consistent unit system of pound inch second or kip feet seconds. All of these units can be converted to metric; however, it appears that one of the key characteristics of metric system champions is an inability to do conversions and so the convertiblity of any units may a moot point.
- carlob 12y ago
  No it's not quite the same, the fact that all the conversion factors between ft and in and lb and oz are weird numbers rather than power of tens means that if someone gives me a weird compound unit (for example forces and distances in DNA are measured in piconewton and nanometer) I can't do the math in my head. tl;dr the point it's not the fact that it's metric, but that it's decimal.
  - abduhl 12y ago
    What the hell are you even talking about? "Not it's not quite the same"? What is not the same? Converting between metric units and English units? It's exactly the same if you're doing it right. Contrary to common belief, most engineering and science that is done using the English system doesn't use "eight pounds four ounces per foot per inch" or some other such silly unit. Consistent units are used based on the application. Are there instances where a conversion must be used? Certainly. Are these conversions any more complex than those used in the metric system? No. Disagree? Then tell me how many liters of water are needed to fill a cubic meter of space without looking it up or writing it down. You can't? Then stop crying about having to divide by 12 to get to feet. Only an idiot does unit conversions in their head.
    - weimeng 12y ago
      Actually, with metric units it's pretty easy: 1,000 liters of water are needed to fill a cubic meter of space. That's because in the metric system 1 cubic centimeter is equivalent to 1 milliliter.
    - carlob 12y ago
      > Only an idiot does unit conversions in their head. Or every elementary school kid outside the few countries that still don't use the metric system as it's a pretty common exercise. I probably shouldn't have answered as I'm pretty sure you're just trolling.
    - theshrike79 12y ago
      > Then tell me how many liters of water are needed to fill a cubic meter of space without looking it up or writing it down. 1000. I had the answer calculated in my head before I finished reading the sentence. I knew that conversion by heart before I was 10. Also as a grown-up my water usage is billed in cubic meters of water used per month. This video is all you need to see why using imperial for anything is idiotic: http://youtu.be/EUpwa0je6_Y http://youtu.be/EUpwa0je6_Y - this is a group of people who use imperial measures daily struggling with a basic arithmetic operation that any second grader could solve in metric.

Insightful comment, bot those units really make me cringe. How do you do physics with those? Did you know that 1 lb in is 16 oz ft?

by carlob 12y ago

Insightful comment, bot those units really make me cringe. How do you do physics with those? Did you know that 1 lb in is 16 oz ft?

techrat 12y ago

It's too bad there isn't an educational system that exists to help us learn units throughout childhood so that we can apply them to everyday tasks in our adult lives.

abduhl 12y ago

Physics is done quite readily by using a consistent unit system of pound inch second or kip feet seconds. All of these units can be converted to metric; however, it appears that one of the key characteristics of metric system champions is an inability to do conversions and so the convertiblity of any units may a moot point.

carlob 12y ago
No it's not quite the same, the fact that all the conversion factors between ft and in and lb and oz are weird numbers rather than power of tens means that if someone gives me a weird compound unit (for example forces and distances in DNA are measured in piconewton and nanometer) I can't do the math in my head. tl;dr the point it's not the fact that it's metric, but that it's decimal.
- abduhl 12y ago
  What the hell are you even talking about? "Not it's not quite the same"? What is not the same? Converting between metric units and English units? It's exactly the same if you're doing it right. Contrary to common belief, most engineering and science that is done using the English system doesn't use "eight pounds four ounces per foot per inch" or some other such silly unit. Consistent units are used based on the application. Are there instances where a conversion must be used? Certainly. Are these conversions any more complex than those used in the metric system? No. Disagree? Then tell me how many liters of water are needed to fill a cubic meter of space without looking it up or writing it down. You can't? Then stop crying about having to divide by 12 to get to feet. Only an idiot does unit conversions in their head.
  - weimeng 12y ago
    Actually, with metric units it's pretty easy: 1,000 liters of water are needed to fill a cubic meter of space. That's because in the metric system 1 cubic centimeter is equivalent to 1 milliliter.
  - carlob 12y ago
    > Only an idiot does unit conversions in their head. Or every elementary school kid outside the few countries that still don't use the metric system as it's a pretty common exercise. I probably shouldn't have answered as I'm pretty sure you're just trolling.
  - theshrike79 12y ago
    > Then tell me how many liters of water are needed to fill a cubic meter of space without looking it up or writing it down. 1000. I had the answer calculated in my head before I finished reading the sentence. I knew that conversion by heart before I was 10. Also as a grown-up my water usage is billed in cubic meters of water used per month. This video is all you need to see why using imperial for anything is idiotic: http://youtu.be/EUpwa0je6_Y http://youtu.be/EUpwa0je6_Y - this is a group of people who use imperial measures daily struggling with a basic arithmetic operation that any second grader could solve in metric.