I'd strongly consider voting for a US presidential candidate solely on if moving to metric was a big part of their platform. So much time is wasted in school on the confusing mess that is the imperial system.
Hundred years of machines that use imperial, speedometers, odometers, books, tools, software, air conditioning, heating, manufacturing, construction, plumbing, including regulatory codes for each of those.
Not saying its impossible and it's definitely my knee jerk reaction, but at this point I cant imagine it being feasible.
All your major trade partners use the metric system: EU, China, India, Australia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgtsSM7vN0M
It starts a bit slow but stick with it. I'm currently rewatching it after several years so I'm not sure there is a calculation. I think there is. A lot of the production in the US already is metric so it shouldn't be that expensive.
Remember that everybody else also had to change their (many) measuring systems over to metric. It went remarkably well.
Road signs can be prepared in advance and covered. The covers can be removed quickly. Another option is to put stickers on the road signs on Metric Sunday.
You do realize there is more to switching to metric than just updating the road signs, right?
Think of all the military and space technology that uses inches.
Apart from some things like miles and gallons which would require a massive synchronised change that is.
I'd also like it if we drove on the RHS here as well so we can get decent import vehicles.
It's less the synchronisation and more the expense of replacing all road signs throughout the kingdom, making it a political non-priority.
So how much is that 1000 mile journey going to cost?
1000/44.94.4561.119= where's my calculator?
The separation is mostly distinct, at least to me. We mostly use imperial and in science class and such we use mostly metric.
The worst of both world I've seen was England.
They're mostly metric until you drive their car and then they decide to use mile per hour. That's pretty random...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_speed_limits_in_the_Unite...
While the article doesn't flat out say it but if you stare at the uk speed sign image and the comment below the image you will see they are in fact in MPH.
edit:
found an article about it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_the_United_King...
If you really want to, you can do it. And it's not as painful as presented especially since many countries have done it (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_system). And the longer you wait the more painful it becomes.
SI units are already in wide use in the US, for instance for electricity (Amperes, Watts, Volts). For the most part, international trade has pushed US industries to adopt metric anyway: metric fasteners are used all over, in cars for instance. Also, countries that have switched still use inch-pattern stuff; in Canada we still use NPT threads and imperial size pipes with no ill effects; even in Europe they still use some imperial-threaded stuff.
And, in any case, most people have a mobile phone now which can quickly do unit conversions. I really think it actually is feasible, if you could get the public behind it (good luck).
> Would it be a huge deal to round that to 40mm by 90mm?
It actually would be a big deal to round things like that I think. Whole designs would need to be updated to take into account the new dimensions of things.
Imagine all of the parts in a car engine. Everything fits together perfectly. Engine mounts line up in the right places. It all has to be very precise.
Now imagine you take all those parts and round them off a bit. Nothing much, just a mm here and there. If you try to put the engine together with these parts, it's not going to work at all.
Also consider that you can't just simply convert the units. Take a 5/16" socket wrench for example. Nobody makes a 7.9375mm socket wrench.
Repair shops can maintain tools for both systems (they already have to). For converting, I mean the dimensions of a component, not tools and fasteners that need to work with tools. Those would likely take a "metric only going forward" approach.
A lot of them are already metric.
The dimensions in use are something that people are very used to working with and they know how to do the necessary mental arithmetic to work with them.
As for "a few generations", yes, certainly. We have only to look to the mishmash of unit use in the UK.
But what's wrong with taking a few generations to get there?
Turning it around, we got rid of a lot of specialized units - hogshead, chain, furlong, peck, etc. (If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many many more are needed to make a bushel?) So it's clearly possible.
Also, metric countries still use non-metric terms for some cases, eg, "inches in a screen", the market price of a "barrel" of oil, and food energy in "[food] calories". This tells me that the transition can occur piecemeal.
This is an example of American influence. Decade ago it was in centimetres.
For example, in this 2004 Siemens commercial for Russia CX65's screen size is 13 square centimetres:
What kind of argument is this? "It would really hurt to amputate my leg, so let's just wait and let the gangrene go further for now."
"it's definitely my knee jerk reaction"
Where metric units are important, e.g. science and engineering, they are already used.
2. it's got the advantage that you're using the same measurements as all your trade partners so people don't need two production lines anymore
3. it's got the advantage that people going into science and engineering don't need to build a whole new set of unit references because they've got the one which already works
4. the "huge expense" is pretty much made out of whole cloth for the purpose of saying you can't switch, the UK's metrication cost basically nothing except for road sign replacements which is why those are still imperial
We already do that.
> 2. it's got the advantage that you're using the same measurements as all your trade partners so people don't need two production lines anymore
Two production lines? For what?
> 3. it's got the advantage that people going into science and engineering don't need to build a whole new set of unit references because they've got the one which already works
Yup, failure to use the metric system in everyday life is why the US has the worst scientists and produces the least scientific output. Oh, wait.
> 4. the "huge expense" is pretty much made out of whole cloth for the purpose of saying you can't switch, the UK's metrication cost basically nothing except for road sign replacements which is why those are still imperial
I agree with this one. It probably wouldn't be terribly expensive to implement, though I would question the priorities of anyone who is really hung up about it (like the grandparent post who started this whole discussion).
Failure to use the metric system everywhere cost NASA a $125 million Mars orbiter just 16 years ago, and yet here you are, insisting that this is not a problem, and throwing in a non sequitur to justify the position.
No, bureaucratic failure to address the concerns of people who spotted the error well in advance of the launch cost NASA $125M. The investigation report makes that clear, especially when it goes on to make recommendations for avoiding future mishap; nobody recommended that the engineers needed to brush up on their units.
And yet here you are, insisting that the issue was that we didn't switch over to the metric system, and throwing in some unsupported claims to justify the position.
Do you really? Whenever I hear an American telling the temperature of the weather, I have no idea what they mean. I have to guess from the context if it's hot or cold, and even what units they're using because they rarely mention the "Fahrenheit" part.
Conversely, how many Americans would recognize that "35 degrees" is blisteringly hot while "15 degrees" means you'll need a jacket and "40 degrees" could kill you if you don't find shelter quickly?
Use SI and ISO standards for everything.
ISO A4 paper, ISO time (2015-08-14 23:52 UTC+2), Metric, etc