White House response to the U.S. adopting the metric system

[tik 🪀✨]

None of this matters when you're Minnesotan and all distance is measured in how long it would take you to drive there.

"How far is it to New York?"

"Oh, 30 hours by bus."

I've heard this claim before about Minnesota. We did this in Ohio, too. I wouldn't be surprised if this was nearly universal. Perhaps you were being facetious. No matter.

I've always thought a basis for length and time should be something more Earth specific than simply the speed of light in a vacuum. Maybe the shortest amount of time for light from the Sun to hit sea level on earth or something like that. Nice and ridiculous.

[muon2]

In case anyone is curious -- all metric units except for time and temperature have their basis in the speed of light. One meter is measured as something close to the distance that light travels in something close to 1/3000000 of a second.  The speed of light in a vacuum is as absolute as anything can be.

To make things really difficult, try using Planck units which almost all have large positive or negative exponents.

Only the meter of the seven basic units is directly tied to the speed of light. The ampere uses the definition of the meter to measure the unit. The candela uses the watt in its definition so it indirectly references the meter as well. The other four basic units - the second, kilogram, kelvin, and mole do not reference the meter and are not tied to the speed of light. Since the definition meter references the second, one can say that cesium 133 is more fundamental than the speed of light to the metric system.

Planck units are usually left as algebraic expressions, so the exponents in the numeric values are rarely needed. The beauty of Planck units is that the speed of light is a fundamental unit, as are four other universal constants. Many of the equations of theoretical physics then become simpler expressions when written with Planck units.

[politicallefty]

I'm very much in favor of the US fully adopting the metric system, with the possible exception of temperature (as I don't think metric time has been adopted in any country). As far as indoor thermostats go, I'd say Fahrenheit does have an advantage. I like the AC set at 72ºF and the heat at 70ºF, and I'm quite adamant about those. I'm too cold at anything below 68ºF in the winter and too hot at over 74ºF in the summer. That's not to mention that, as already mentioned, 100ºF sounds a lot hotter than 38ºC.

As for other measurements, this country is way behind. There's no reason why we shouldn't be using metric measurements for volume and weight. Soda is already measured predominantly in metric, namely the 2L bottle. As far as weight goes, grams are at least equally listed. If it was forced, I think Americans would easily accept milliliters and grams. The harder parts would be distance (miles to kilometers) and temperature (if it were forced along with everything else). I do think the US should fully adopt metric volume, weight, and distance. I wouldn't have a problem leaving temperature as Fahrenheit (though I do think Celsius does make more sense based on the boiling point of water).

[muon2]

I'm very much in favor of the US fully adopting the metric system, with the possible exception of temperature (as I don't think metric time has been adopted in any country). As far as indoor thermostats go, I'd say Fahrenheit does have an advantage. I like the AC set at 72ºF and the heat at 70ºF, and I'm quite adamant about those. I'm too cold at anything below 68ºF in the winter and too hot at over 74ºF in the summer. That's not to mention that, as already mentioned, 100ºF sounds a lot hotter than 38ºC.

I'm not saying that from a measurement view one system is superior to another. But you could just as easily set your AC at 22 C and the heat at 21 C, with a range of comfort from 20 to 23 C. The difference is what we are used to and have an intuitive feel for. Most Americans have little or no intuitive feel for Celsius. The liter came into commercial use in the 70s, and most Americans now have a good sense of that amount of liquid. The kilogram is just as intuitive in the US if you are in the drug trade.

[Nhoj]

None of this matters when you're Minnesotan and all distance is measured in how long it would take you to drive there.

"How far is it to New York?"

"Oh, 30 hours by bus."

Only 30 hours? has greyhound got more efficient these days?

[Mr. Morden]

That's not to mention that, as already mentioned, 100ºF sounds a lot hotter than 38ºC.

Only because you're used to degrees F.  To me they sound about the same, since I've lived both in a country that uses C and a country that uses F.

[Stranger in a strange land]

I suspect we'll have to eventually because of international trade and increasing standardization worldwide, but I don't expect it to happen in my lifetime (I'm 27).

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Probably the only thing keeping all liquids, such as milk, from being sold in metric these days is that a liter is just a little bit larger than a quart. Its especially the case for products such as milk that are sold in standard sizes: gallon, half gallon, quart, pint, and at school the little one serving cup.  It would be easy enough to convert to 4L, 2L, 1L, ½L, and ¼L sizes, but the costs would be higher and consumers would not be willing to pay more.  Dairy products are so standardized in size, there would be considerable infrastructure costs to shift to sizes such as 3L, 1½L, ¾L, and 400mL so as to disrupt the tendency among consumers to think a liter should cost them no more than quart.  Also its not a market I can see individual dairies willing to change container sizes on their own.