Neil deGrasse Tyson Explains the Metric System

Why isn’t the U.S. on the metric system? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice explain the past, present, and future of the metric system.
What even is a meter? Discover the history behind the meter and its connection to the French Revolution. Are there any problems that arise, since we’re not using the same units? Are we already inching toward the metric system? We break down why we may be using the metric system more in our daily lives than we originally thought. All that, plus find out where Neil lands in the metric system debate!
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Science meets pop culture on StarTalk! Astrophysicist & Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson, his comic co-hosts, guest celebrities & scientists discuss astronomy, physics, and everything else about life in the universe. Keep Looking Up!
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[@andypdq]

Metric system seems common in US schools, 9mms are very popular, I believe.

[@mamadashari]

That’s dark 🙁

[@Nexictus]

Uhhh... Shots fired

[@zsolthb]

@@mamadashari but true

[@WayStedYou]

confused .223 noises

[@spoortifyy]

Woo😂

[@emihle2295]

Why is this even a debate? Metric is superior.

[@jeremyortiz2927]

I like metric but it's not for everything. Metric doesn't work well for air and nautical travel. Every country in the world still use the Imperial system for that.

[@redelfshotthefood8213]

Metric is superior, but the US has to get over the whole, everything we do is best. Forget the rest of the world. We went to the moon! 😉

[@Herb___]

They are not debating. 😂

[@live2ride18]

Yet you refuse to budge on the uselessness of Celsius ...🙄 Edit: read the rest before you get triggered and must immediately comment 😂 😂 😂 Europeans 🙄 actin worse than Stalin over this troll.

[@davisdf3064]

@@redelfshotthefood8213 I love when they use the excuse that they went to the Moon when we look at Soviets and they done everything first

[@gregorykowalenko1213]

I grew up in the US and studied construction engineering and then relocated 30 years ago to Europe. I enjoy metric since you use numbers and decimals versus feet, inches and fractions. It’s so much simpler adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing 3,5 cm and 2.7 cm than 7 feet 6 3/8 inches and 12 feet 10 7/16 inches😮

[@georgejo7905]

in my head 3 feet 9 3/16 6 foot 5 7/32

[@-Subtle-]

If you grew up in the USA and studied construction and engineering, you would have learned metric and all your tools would have been metric and standard.

[@shaggyd485]

You are over complicating how we do the math. We measure in inches, 7' 6 3/8" is not a measurement an American carpenter would use, it is 90 3/8". 154 7/16" not 12' 10 7/16".

[@creolespanish34]

There is a hybrid approach that gun makers use for caliber. They divide inches in hundredths, which is already somewhat of a 'metrification', so a 50 caliber is nothing else than a half inch.

[@jamesmays8306]

I remember when opening a drawing on the table seeing these numbers...And my brain shouting WHAT!!!!!

[@johnrogers1423]

As an Australian who grew up with imperial currency, weights and measures, I agree that the metric system is far easier.

[@philipberthiaume2314]

As a Canadian who is exposed to both systems, the metric system is far, far easier to use, it's not even comparable.

[@magnifiedspace2557]

As a American who is exposed to both systems, the Metric system is far, far harder to use, it's not even comparable.

[@nikokapanen82]

@@magnifiedspace2557 Dishonesty is a sin. So stop.

[@Psy0803]

I refuse to measure in fractions on a tape measure. Centimeters and millimeters are way easier.

[@magnifiedspace2557]

@@nikokapanen82 Judging is a sin. So Stop.

[@inemanja]

@@magnifiedspace2557 you are kind of judging now...

[@derwynyleen]

If a person can count to 10 you should be able to do metric.

[@tokajileo5928]

most people in USA can't

[@noelmasson]

@@tokajileo5928 That's all you've got? Sad that all you have is an insult.

[@woooshwooosh2867]

@@noelmasson why so salty

[@noelmasson]

@@woooshwooosh2867 I'm not the one insulting people because of a measuring system in place.

[@ahmedbakheit5003]

Yup... murica, I know it's primal but I'm oddly satisfied with it.

[@cbxdavid]

I work for a diesel engine manufacture. Everything about the engines is metric. I design and build test equipment. I did a LOT of converting till I decided to stop fighting it and just started thinking metric. Life is so much easier now. I even build things at home measuring metric now. Quit fighting it.

[@c0mpu73rguy]

So metric is for dumb people, got it.

[@RaphaelLapetina86]

Here in Brazil we use metric for almost everything. The only exceptions that I can remember are for screen size( 24" monitor or 55" inch Tv), speakers( 12" subwoofer ) and some tools( 1/2, 5/8 or 9/16 wrench, but we mix it with some sizes in MM )

[@rjfaber1991]

I'm fairly certain you also use the international standard for rim and tyre sizes on cars, which are in a confusing mix of metric and imperial. _200/30 R18_ for instance means that the tyre is 200mm wide and the sidewall is 30% of that (so 60mm), but it's designed for an 18" rim, so the total diameter of the tyre is 18"+2*60mm, which is 577.2mm.

[@gianluca.g]

Here in Italy it's the same: everything is in metric except TV/monitor screen sizes, speakers, cars and bikes wheels and water pipes.

[@ferruccioveglio8090]

In France they use mm even for screen size, and some years ago Michelin launched the mm size for wheel rims (not a success...)

[@ItsJust2SXTs]

@@ferruccioveglio8090 cm cause a TV with 650mm I've never see that perso...

[@ileana8360]

And every effing time I have to convert to be able to invision how effing big the tv/monitor is! I just can't memorise the inch sizes

[@8Atila8]

Neil: when the rest of the world suggests you "join us" with Celsius, for example, it's usually not because we are annoyed when visiting you in the US (non-US tourists are usually very open-minded and flexible), it's because we are annoyed when you visit the rest of the world, get frustrated because you don''t understand us when we communicate temperature and we get annoyed because you react as if we were the ones using "weird" units...

[@napadave58]

See: American Narcissism.

[@gabrieldeoliveira7725]

Exactly! USA citizens should learn manners before going to other countries.

[@palupalu5647]

A country which plays more basketball than football (soccer) cannot claim to be the arbiter of international measures!

[@da_pawz]

​@napadave58 they were explained well in some YT videos, how many americans feel like their country is the centre of the universe lol

[@guilhermeapm2273]

The US is shifting to the metric system, but one foot at a time

[@quarts_i_guess]

they've been shifting furlong enough

[@beneditibraz5380]

They have two feet. It's taking too long.

[@nobodyknows3180]

Ha ha! I see what you did there! Nice to know someone will go the extra mile to find humor in a situation!

[@nobodyknows3180]

@@quarts_i_guess oh man! 🤣 🤣 🤣

[@jessewilson8676]

One chain at a time

[@wesblood3620]

Canadian here. Changed from imperial measurements to metric. I'm glad I understand both as we still use both. Especially in building materials.

[@alansimpson596]

There's a famous aircraft story which took place in Canada I think. The airliner had just been refueled and the driver boarded the plane to get his signature acknowledging the amount. The captain didn't notice it was in litres and took it for granted that he had been fueled in gallons. He took off and halfway to his destination he ran out of fuel but he was a brilliant pilot and managed to glide the plane safely to an airport.

[@ashvinikumar716]

Air Canada flight 143. Also known S Gimli glider

[@Bartz01able]

They get in lb what they needed in kilograms. Not even the half (a lb is 0.453592kg)!

[@sparkie920]

A Us gallon is less than a British gallon. US is 3.8L a British gallon is 4.546L (8 pints)

[@jefftitterington7600]

​@@ashvinikumar716and he rightly got in hot water for his unsafe piloting - he should have been paying attention because he was responsible for EVERYTHING.

[@easy_s3351]

There is a similar story from WW2 from one of the 1st SAS missions in North Africa. They were supposed to have a convoy of vehicles driven to them but those vehicles never arrived. It turned out that someone from the army administration had mixed up miles and kilometers and the convoy had subsequentially been under-fueled and got stranded somewhere in the desert before it reached the rendez-vous point.

[@markamanic]

The 'Imperial system' isn't even a system of measurements. it's just a collection of units of measurement that don't have anything to do with each other.

[@robf7046]

Isn't 1 litre of pure water equal to 1 kilogram of pure water equal to 1000ml of water equal to 1000mm in a metre? There is method in the madness.

[@TheNefastor]

@@robf7046 it's better than that : 1 kilogram of water = 1 litre = 1 cubic decimeter. In the case of water we link mass, volume and dimensions and all it takes is moving the decimal point. There're plenty of reasons why the entire world uses metric.

[@barrybrideaux2919]

@@robf7046 not a fan of imperial but for imperial, 1 ounce of water, needs no qualification as in weight or volume, 1 ounce is the same, 1 volume ounce of water weighs 1 ounce in weight. so there are some base commonality in the imperial system.

[@groovebuster]

@@barrybrideaux2919 Sorry, but ... 😂

[@klashpepsi]

@@groovebuster it is ok, that is what people do when they have nothing to add to a conversation they laugh and mock the conversation.

[@MichaelC-no8dx]

Here i was thinking the US measures everything in cheeseburgers per freedom 🤷‍♂️

[@ILoveGrilledCheese]

That's pretty funny

[@henghistbluetooth7882]

I like it :)

[@Anthraxicus]

Confirmed, with a side of fries & a coke please.

[@dohtje5029]

And temperature in Freedomheit

[@juanmanuelpenaloza9264]

That's how we measure joules.

[@christiansrensen8330]

What do you call 3L of Pepsi? Diabetes.

[@hg6996]

Fun fact: The "dozen" as a counting number was chosen because it is a so called "highly composite number" which means that it's very easy to divide in your head. 12 can be easily devided by 2, 3, 4 or 6 while this is not the case with the number 10. I stumbled upon this fact when I read an article about the genius Srinivasa Ramanujan who studied this topic in depth.

[@cyrnus]

I had heard the dozen was adopted because it was a method to count on one hand. Using the tip of your thumb count using each segment of your fingers. 3 segments across 4 fingers. When you use the same method on the other hand to count how many times you count to 12 then you can get up to a Gross (144)

[@dmcdara]

I have no real idea if it is true@@cyrnus , but I thought the ancient Sumerians counted that way and that's why clocks have 12 numbers. Sixty seconds to a minute and 60 minutes to and hour (both 5 x 12, thumb counting segments and then using whole fingers on the other hand gets you to 60) Odd thing, my birthday is Dec. 12 and I turned 60 on 12/12/12.

[@oscarcalva2189]

No it’s not. Divide in your head 167452891534 by 12. Now same number by ten, easy 16745289153.4

[@maxoti6843]

@@oscarcalva2189 well that because you write the number in decimal so ofc. Now if you were writting it base 12 it would be another story. But yes saying divide by 10 is more difficult then by 12 when the number system is almost always decimal is something...

[@arizvisa]

@@maxoti6843 if you divide any number by the base used for its representation it's simple. that's the nature of having alternative representations.

[@Avatar2312]

"I remember "5 tomatoes", because there are 5280 feet in a mile. Genius, eh?" "I remember "1000", because the metric system was not invented by a drunken lobster" But I am impressed you use KWh in the USA. I thought is was something fancier like "stone-gallon per foreman gas grill clock-inch".

[@-_James_-]

I was going to say the tomato thing doesn't makes sense, but then I remembered Americans can't speak English properly either. ;)

[@skipp3252]

@Avatar2312 that gave me a giggle :D

[@nymphrodellsalavin]

We still measure shoes in barleycorns and engine power in horses so... Oooh! Let's not forget that we measure horses in hands...

[@john_titor1]

@@-_James_- We just improved upon it :)

[@nobodyknows3180]

@@-_James_- actually, we annunciate the words, we don't slur our way through them like the Brits do, ello ello?

[@KrzysztofBob]

Meanwhile in the UK - petrol sold in litres - fuel consumption measured in miles per gallon

[@sparky4878]

Oh I just said this myself. Don’t forget UK gallon is bigger than the US one to confuse things.

[@vmitchinson]

It is the us gal=3.89l where as IMP gal=4.5l. The result is cooking recipes are all f**ked up=SNAFU. It's driving me nuts.

[@Gordon_L]

@@vmitchinson Fluid ounces would be a pain in cooking , 16 fl. oz. in a U.S. pint and 20 in an imperial pint and the fluid ounces as well as the pints are different to each other . You'd need a calculator to bake a cake :-)

[@edo386]

In Colombia, fuel sold in gallons, consumption measured in km per gallon

[@Milesco]

@@edo386 : Km per gallon? You're kidding, right? Please tell me you're kidding!

[@FM-kl7oc]

1:41 That's an understatement. Out of the 195 or so countries on planet Earth, only 3 countries -- Liberia, Myanmar and USA, don't use metric officially. There are some countries that still mixes systems in everyday life such as the UK, but they officially are metric.

[@eoliva1972]

If I may comment in two of the mentioned metric based parameters: 1) money, currency. It is decimal. It's based on the numbers 0 to 9. 2) Photography is coming from France (The Daguerrotype, vrai?). It makes sense that it'd be metric based.

[@Tezorus]

Metric system: use math. Imperial system: use ... rocks.

[@CaroAbebe]

… and “someone’s” feet 😅

[@badmotherrucker]

And body parts.

[@srbaran]

Metric System: Use water

[@nobodyknows3180]

@@srbaran Imperial system: Use ice and water and salt and some other stuff, then forget to write it all down so that NOBODY can replicate the mixture, and invent an arbitrary temperature scale based on that.

[@mikeoxitchy5765]

Hahahaha... Classic

[@lacikaketezeregy7824]

I just remembered by physics professor: "The foot cannot be a unit of length, because it is already the unit of smell." :D

[@khaelamensha3624]

😂

[@purwantooke429]

Funniest quote i heard today😂

[@bantuandproud8456]

🤣🤣

[@gast9374]

Alrighty, but "the metre has been internationally defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second". I don't see why you can't do the same with the smell of a foot.

[@petercapon9878]

Another quirk that slipped through the net is the US gallon the wine gallon (3.78 litres) and the imperial gallon the ale gallon(4.54 litres or 10 lbs of water). There are quite a few others that aren't used any more. The Hubble lens was originally ground to the wrong profile due to confusion over the metric/imperial systems and had to be corrected in orbit. We still buy beer and milk in the UK by the british pint which is also different(8 pints to the imperial gallon). My friend informs me weed is still sold by the ounce too.

[@mrblanche]

I remember when GM announced that any new tooling would be in metric, about 1976-78, in there. For years, mechanics needed two full sets of tools, because you never knew when you looked at a fastener if it would be SAE or metric. Now, I went to college for one year in France, so I have a pretty quick method for converting C to F, miles to KM and back, etc. And old engines and hot rodders still deal in cubic inches. And you said, "We're inching..."

[@bachstaa]

Yeah. Inching towards the metric system sounds pretty funny...!

[@marioou812]

I use the metric system at work. Our machines are of European manufacture and are metric based. It's actually quite simple in comparison to English standard. And it cracks me up when kids complain about it being confusing compared to fractional units. It's like "Can you count by tens? Is it difficult?".

[@WingNuts2010]

I find that if the kids are confused with the simple-to-use metric system, it is because of their poorly educated parents who struggled at school with the metric system and forced their own children not to use it at home. simples.

[@ProctorsGamble]

Ask any American how many cups in a gallon. Very few can give you an answer.

@@ProctorsGamble You have a cuboid tub. You want to fill it with… milk. For some reason. You measure its sides, in inches (it's a smaller tub). Now you have cubic inches. How many gallons do you need? In metric, it's child's play, almost. For Americans: Measure, multiply, you get cubic centimeters. Liters? Divide by 1000, done. (You buy milk in liters, obviously)

[@ProctorsGamble]

@ Genau!

[@joshrogan9854]

Hi Mario. 'English standard?'..lol Fun fact, The English use the metric system...! lol 😊😉

[@Rilcy2003]

1 cubic meter = 1000 liters of water = 1000 kilograms = 1 ton. I like this kind of equivalence/simplicity provided by the metric system.

[@Rilcy2003]

@@roncoletta6513 Sorry for my bad english/translation, you are right (square => surface / cubic => volume). I edited my comment ;).

[@gilgarcia3008]

1000 kilograms is a metric ton, and a ton in this country is 2000 pounds.

[@talsius.1019]

@@gilgarcia3008 An imperial ton =2240Lbs. A metric tonne=2222Lbs

[@maartenbakker8311]

Mind that 1 cubic meter (or 1 000 liter) to 1 000 kilogram converts from the quantity of volume to the quantity of mass. It only works for water because our measurements with density comes from exactly that. 1 000 kg of water fills 1 cubic meter of space. But 1 cubic meter of gold weights 19 400 kg (because gold has a way higher density than water). 1000 liter is always 1 cubic meter though, because both are units of volume.

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

2000 pounds is a “short ton”, 2240 pounds is a “long ton”. Correspondingly, a “hundredweight” is 100 pounds if it’s “short hundredweight”, else it’s 112 pounds for a “long hundredweight”. See why imperial units are so confusing? And the imperial unit of force (weight) is not a “pound”, it’s a “poundal”. Anybody remember how that is defined?

[@raman3460]

In Greece we have already changed units of measurement since 1959. We also changed currency in 2002 from drachmas to euros.

[@shatner99]

When you cross the border into Canada near Vancouver, BC, the speed signs say ThinKMetric.

[@jeffbaviera3693]

If I saw that sign, I'd say, "I think I need to turn around"!

[@thoso1973]

It validates what Winston Churchill once observed about the Americans; "they will always do the right thing, after exhausting all the alternatives."

[@albertjackinson]

When did he say that? Was it during WWII?

[@georgeknowseverything1269]

@@albertjackinson 2014 jkjk, he never said it.

[@albertjackinson]

@@georgeknowseverything1269 Then don't put it as a comment if he didn't say it.

[@fenz1]

@@albertjackinson It's too broad of a quote anyway if he said it a long time ago, lol. Which may be your point.

[@madrooky1398]

This quote is originally from an asian diplomat and was about humans in general.

[@jangoedbloed2141]

As an engineer, i would be very grateful if everyone would use metrics. I from the Netherlands and had dealings with the American bureau of shipping (ABS). And i can tell you it's a pain.

[@derekcraig3617]

It's not a pain if you create a metric-to-emperial excell spreadsheet with the equations already built in. something we've been doing in the states for some time

[@aleksandarmiljesic68]

@@derekcraig3617 why would you even do that when you can standarize metric?

[@derekcraig3617]

@@aleksandarmiljesic68 If you mean that us Americans can make metric our standard method of measurement then NO. We've tried twice. We have idiots for politicians who refuse to make smart decisions. So until the day that we get smart people in office, we're just stuck converting 2 & 13/32" to 2 & 26/64". It's dumb AF, we know, and that's why we've mostly changed over to metric despite our idiotic leadership

[@hansblonk1465]

Or you stop and just only do metric. Just fall in line one at a time

[@derekcraig3617]

@@hansblonk1465 Yeah, makes perfect sense. Especially when you submit your paperwork for import weights or you construction plans for your home that you want to build. The US government will totally accept metric units!! why didn't I think of that genius thought???🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦🤦🤦🤷🤷🤷🤷

[@poorwotan]

Computer memory is in metric (kb, mb, Gb) as is electricity (kilo watts, mega watts). Here in Puerto Rico (part of the US), gasoline is sold in liters (probably as the cost/unit "looks" a tiny bit cheaper).

[@cjrock4096]

Memory is to the nearest binary value of an even decimal power. 1KB is 1024 bytes, not 1000. Disk storage by convention is measured to an even decimal power. 1KB of disk equals 1000 bytes. Metric employs the decimal system, not the other way around.

[@RafaelHe]

Computer memory is measured both, in powers of 2 and in powers of 10. They have slightly different names. Since blocks of memory are read and written in powers of 2 that's a more convenient measurement.

[@TaiiLuder]

As a metric user I just wanted to add that in Sweden we use the dozen and half dozen measurement (spelled dussin) for the eggs. We also had some weird ways of mesure length and quantity before the metric system. But to use for example foot as a distance unit is very un precise since it depended on the persons foot size rather than a standard unit.

[@kleberamado]

water freezes at 0°C and boils at 100°C, Isn't this amazing?

[@RachidLinden]

Not really, those values were chosen because of this fact

[@kleberamado]

@@RachidLinden of course it was, what about fahrenheit?!

[@cnn8420]

It's actually water boils at 100

[@sundoga4961]

@@kleberamado Fahrenheit (the scientist) was actually trying to do the same thing. He marked a mercury thermometer where the brine froze, and again where it boiled, and then made 200 divisions between them. Problem was that he was using a brine solution and not pure water. So the numbers don't line up that way for pure water.

[@matthijskrans]

@@cnn8420 what do you think boiling is?

[@SoundsLikeOdie]

The gentleman that transitioned South Africa to the metric system passed away this week. It was the smoothest transition in the world. RIP Sir.

[@Walterwaltraud]

Who was that? Sounds like an interesting read!

[@kiefinity162]

now im curious..much thanks to you

[@marmundo9110]

I looked it up, and Google says it was Prof Heinz Prekel

[@danielcoetzee5793]

I was born in SA in 1957 (when Sputnik was still beeping overhead). The year I started school (1963) they introduced the ball point pen for the first time. My brother 20 months older than me still learned to write with messy fountain pens and inkpots but I never used one once. I was born in the "space age" (by a mere few days) and my older brother was born in the "jet Age"! My brother also learned money in terms of Pounds, Shilling and Pennies. I, on the other hand, never learned this. A new monetary system was introduced along with the metric system and the Rand consisted of 100 cents and it all made perfect sense to me. I can still remember the adults marveling at the new five cent pieces that came out. They kept dropping it on the floor to hear what sound it made. It sounded more "solid" "like a button" and not so "clangy" like the old "tiekies" (two & half penny pieces). That same year (1963) the SPAR franchise was established in South Africa and a new store opened near us. They promoted the opening by handing out little green plastic (pine-like) trees. And that is when I first saw any thing else made of PLASTIC for the first time (besides the ball point pen). Everything was new and exciting. And I learned the metric system from the start. But my father was a carpenter...; he had to learn everything anew..!

[@samgidds]

Interesting, read! I have loved the South African dates YYYYMMDDD, it helps sorting dates out!

[@pbiza]

As an metric consumer/citizen(NZ) we still use dozens and both measures of temp when baking, Its not that hard nowadays lots of apps to convert things.

[@robertkelley3437]

Colorado in the 50s when the national speed limit was 55mph had speed limit signs in metric. the speed limit was 85kph in big numbers and little letter on top and 55MPH in little numbers and BIG letters on the bottom. Also there was a speed trap about a mile down the road. 20 troopers with 20 ticket receivers with a line of people waiting for theirs.

[@tomekkruk6147]

Metric system is objectively better, there's no arguing about that. It's so much easier to understand and do stuff with as all you need to do is to be able to literally multiply and divide by ten, which is natural and easy. And it doesn't really matter whether dealing with volume, distance or mass.

[@davidianmusic4869]

And in common use, everything is based on water. Temperature, freezing and boiling points. Mass, Volume, length. 1kg of water is 1 litre, which is a cube 10cm3, ie, 10cm on side. Makes figuring out how heavy your grocery bag is pretty easy by looking.

[@josephmiller1576]

I disagree. . .

[@osvagt]

Yes, we all know that

[@jonnenne]

@@josephmiller1576 it doesn't matter if you agree, it is just objectively better lol

[@josephmiller1576]

@@jonnenne okie dokie boss. . . .

[@0osaka]

It's mind-boggling why a country that's so bad at math insists on sticking with a measurement system that needs mental gymnastics.

[@Alamyst2011]

Thats funny. The United States has the premier math schools in the world. But you know, enjoy made up facts

[@Seamus.Harper]

@@Alamyst2011 So what you are saying is, all of America went there and received the best mathematical education there is, right? Because if not... having something that doesn't do anything for the general population is pretty pointless, atleast in an argument regarding all of the US population.

[@EM-qx3hx]

Alamyst2011 FACT: PISA is the most prestigious and comprehensive international assessment of student's level in math, reading ans science. FACT: according to PISA scores, the US is number 25 in the world in math. FACT: the US has never even made it to the top 10, and is not only behind the obvious China and Japan, but also behind Poland, Estonia and Macau.

[@Alamyst2011]

@@EM-qx3hx China you say. I am sure their numbers are totally legit. Just like how they have 0% homosexuality; the only nation in the world. I wonder why, if America is so bad at math, we continue to push forward technology and medicine.

[@ttt5205]

@@Alamyst2011 Ah yes, I wonder what measurement system they use in those scientific and medical fields. Not that this is even a proper argument for proving that the US is number one in math (which it isn't).

[@fliesonthevisor]

From what I can remember from school, the Imperial monetary system was based on measures rather than notional value. A shilling could be used to create 12 pennies - melt one and cast the other. A pound could create 20 shillings. All of this goes back to when gold and silver were the only real currency. Fun Fact: The Guinea was 21 shillings. There being 20 shillings in a pound, the extra shilling was for the craftsman. If you bought a suit from a Tailor, they would charge you in Guineas, that being the cost of the cloth in pounds and the payment for their service.

[@tracylemme1375]

As a machinist and machine repair person, I work on machines built in both the US and the rest of the world. I find the Imperial system just as easy to deal with as metric. I do like playing with fractions in my head.and the decimal equivalents. BUT metric by itself is just as easy or easier for me. The problem comes with mixing metric with Imperial. It can be frustrating. One metric standard that wasn’t mentioned os anti friction bearings. They are almost always metric. I have learned that an inch has been defined as 25.4 mm since about 1888. So we technically use the metric system.

[@joca1378]

Regarding the temperature, at least -40 Celsius is -40 Fahrenheit. Systems do agree, let's say, to a degree :P

[@corniel657]

Noice

[@ryancoulter4797]

-40 c or -40 f. Either way, it’s fricking cold.

[@henghistbluetooth7882]

Literally!

[@rusle]

Yep, but Celsius is not a SI unit, Kelvin is the one and I do not know any country who uses Kelvin for every day use.

[@Tyranastrasza]

@@rusle Yes Kelvin is the SI unit, but it was based on the Celsius (more exactly on the degree centigrade)

[@callmeandoru2627]

I like how Neil always says "We are inching toward the metric system." instead of "centimetering"

[@SandroWalach]

I wonder if, when the USA changes to the metric system, they'll also change their way of explaining using some words aswell? :P

[@artembentsionov]

@@SandroWalach nope, sayings have a way of outliving their origins. Like “jury-rigging”. It likely derived from the jury mast, a spare mast that was installed if the main mast was damaged on a ship. Over the years, the phrase morphed into “Jerry-rigging”, even though no one who uses it would be able to tell you who this Jerry guy is

[@brunomantovaneli6076]

@@SandroWalach no! Just because a base measurement system has been replaced doesn't mean the old system will die culturally. NFL games would still have yards and inches

[@rimbusjift7575]

@@brunomantovaneli6076 Still use yards in the Canadian Football League.

[@FryingPan76]

@@rimbusjift7575 Even the european football leagues use yards. ;)

[@micade2518]

Catching up a little late on your very good video, little European me would like to say that on the ol' Continent too, we talk of, sell, buy, ... eggs by the dozen. It's never occurred to me that it was not "metric"?. As well as roasted chestnuts, in the winter, when merchants used to shout "13 to the dozen", meaning that when you bought a dozen, you got the 13th free ... Good old - bygone - days! :o)

[@nostradumbass4984]

Here in Germany, eggs are sold by the 10 :)

[@Evasivefiah]

Loved this video - looking forward to more!

[@solarsailor55]

Aside from the simplicity of the system I love the fact that the metric units for length, weight and volume all relate to each other. For example a cube measuring 10 centimetres x 10 centimetres x 10 centimetres will hold 1 litre of water and 1 litre of water weighs 1 kilogram.

[@M4nusky]

And it keeps going: it takes 1 Joule to raise the temperature of 1g of water (aka 1 ml aka 1 cc) by 1 deg C, Which is also 1 W for 1 sec, 1 Watt is 1 volt over a resistance of 1 ohm which also give a current of 1 amp etc Theres also somethng about a force of 1 newton over 1 meter and some other conversions... Far from the 33000 pounds over a foot in a minute for a HP and 1760 yards per miles :)

[@jacobharris5894]

Yeah it’s a lot more intuitive than imperial. All you got to worry about is the orders of magnitude instead of some arbitrary multiplier you can’t remember. So if you intuitively know how long a meter is you can easily get an idea how long a kilometer is. Meanwhile with miles you have to remember it’s 5280 feet in a mile.

[@solarsailor55]

@@jacobharris5894 Just as a bit of tease (and because I'm a Brit) it's metre and kilometre rather than meter and kilometer. After all it's called the metric system and not the meteric system :)

[@jacobharris5894]

Andrew Shearer I legitimately never noticed there’s two different ways to spell it. I guess America doesn’t want to follow the spelling of the rest of the world either.

[@erykczajkowski8226]

Andrew Shearer Because it makes so much sense to write 'metre' and stil pronounce 'meter'. Lol

[@amrothxxx]

In europe we measure our TVs in inches and I am freaking out.

[@MrSulen-bi5nu]

And wheels for some reason..

[@MrGonzonator]

@@MrSulen-bi5nu but the tread width is quoted in mm... 235/35 R19 means 235mm width, 35% of that in sidewall (a dimensionless ratio) and a 19inch rim size.

[@MrBonners]

same here in Canada, all electronics is built in metric . discussed in metric. all tech stuff is in metric,,,,,,,,except TV and computer screens......how odd.

[@JasonB808]

Because the first TVs and Cars were made in ‘Merica. It’s why they still use Imperial even though most TVs is made in China these days.

[@Cnupoc]

true 😂😂

[@mBlackThunder]

To me (as a metric user) the most confusing is the Fahrenheit, maybe because that's the one that would really matter. I mean, if you're baking and using a cup of this and ½ a cup of that, I can put that into metric well enough I think, but temperature is tricky from one to the other... (I don't use it all every day, but when I do fall into Fahrenheit, I have no idea what the numbers mean in celcius)...

[@ChefGoreb]

In case I don't have a calculator at hand, I found the following easy to learn rule for the (0,100,200F) and the three key numbers -40, 400 and 500 helpful many times: -40F = -40C (exactly) 0F ≈ -(20-2)C 100F ≈ (40-4)C 200F ≈ (100-8)C 400F ≈ 204C 500F = 260°C (exactly) I don't have a trick for the other way around, never needed that...

[@rasool8262]

F=9C/5 + 32 F is in Fahrenheit and C is in Celcius

[@johnmagnell8902]

I agree. I make an approximation by thinking 16˚c = 61 Fahrenheit. And 28 ˚ c = 82 Fahrenheit.

[@DS-mo6md]

As someone who does automotive stuff (in particular my fords transmission proudly has Metric stamped on the bottom ) machining/modifying etc i honestly use both. For precision work i do such as porting i can look at caliper values in either mm or inches... The thing is MOST people are not measuring things or dialing things in at thousandths of an inch.. for me? A lot of precision things are within that area .010" or less sometimes.. so sometimes MM seems "easier" gicen a direct value and not saying thousandths or ten thousandths etc but in my experience even using standard doea not deviate from a more "micro" precision.. its simply a matter of decimals. For me the frustration is more in manifacturing being a mixed bag.. Ford was quick to have metric fasteners and every manufacturer uses 10mm it seems lol but its mostly in the tooling industry where some fractions match with mm sockets etc. (cant recite off top of my head) .. because obv it could be on or the other as many fasteners are kind of "arbitrary" . Obv you get into thread pitch where metric can be a bit more annoying vs standard that often is either coarse or fine but simply tells you how many threads per inch. Ex. 5/8 x 16 . But as a film person with many lenses (mostly japanese) obv i understand filter size, sensor size diopter etc. but when i pull focus? I mostly reference feet.. not to say im dumb where i cant quickly see two meter and realize the distance of a man and so on.. funny though that what is universal? Infinity lol

[@chrisbiebel6205]

I'm surprised that he didn't mention that our energy meters measure Kilowatt hours, not Horsepower-hours.

[@nHans]

Yeah, it probably would have been worthwhile to mention that. When Americans hear "going metric," they fear that _everything_ will change, including units of time and electricity. I always explain that the discrepancy between the Imperial and metric units is in the three base units-_*length, mass,* and *_temperature,_* and units derived from them. All other base and derived units-including electrical units-are identical. So electrical power, electrical energy etc. are identical in both systems. But you're right, the US Customary system does have multiple, inconsistent units for each quantity: - derived from mechanical units (Power in horsepower, energy in calorie, BTU, foot-pound etc.) - derived from electrical units (Watts and Joules respectively). And so a horsepower-hour is a perfectly valid unit of energy. I believe, in high school, I actually did solve problems on converting units, which involved units like that.

[@gyozakeynsianism]

True! There are other examples he left out. Just goes to show how pervasive metric is in the US.

[@somethingsomethingsomethingdar]

I hate that I have to remember the conversion for horsepower on motors because they don’t list their rating volt amps

[@brian9731]

In the UK, our electricity and gas are measured and priced per kilowatt-hour BUT our car engine power is always quoted in horsepower. HOWEVER, electric car power is quoted in watts or kilowatts. As you Americans say, "Go figure!"

[@fajaradi1223]

Kilowatt hours? I thought you guys measure with football field hours. Edit : your football field, not our football field.

[@timoadler6356]

Fun fact that wasn't mentioned in the video: The units of the imperial system are nowadays defined using the metric system. That means there's no such thing as a standard-one-yard-beam or a original-one-pound-blob of stuff lying around in some basement, like it once was for the meter and kg. The definition of these imperial units are just fractions of the SI-System units. So in a way the US is using metric to derive their own unit system and are using that metric derived system on a daily basis.

[@obelic71]

Also British imperial industrial standards are defined in the metric system. 1/4" 3/8" 1/2" 3/4" etc.etc and BSW thread are used as a standard measurment in industrial piping construction. There are no couplings and fittings in metric. Metric tire sizes shortly existed in the 1980's and don't exist any more. That gives 2 fun double measurments overhere in Europe. f.e. You buy a 6 meter lenght pipe with an imperial diameter. You buy 18" diameter tires with a 180mm metric width

[@grahamshellswell4513]

Ha - I just wrote the same comment almost word for word. Great minds… 😂

[@Ehrentraud]

Actually, early in the 20th Century, the inch was defined as exactly 2,54 cm, removing all further digits.

[@grahamshellswell4513]

@@Ehrentraud real handy, as I work in the UK and still to this day some sheet metal forms are priced in SWG (standard wire gauge) which(if you didn’t know) is a series of values relating to inches. So if I want to know the thickness, I first have to look up what the SWG is in inches, then calculate that in millimetres, then I can go about designing something 😅

[@Ehrentraud]

@@grahamshellswell4513 Amusing

[@MrSteelAu]

I am an engineer working at an airport in Australia, we have some amazing engineers from the USA and they never use imperial in any calculations. So in America universities they learn metric

[@Fifury161]

12:10 - same thing happened with the Hubble Space Telescope...

[@Merkss]

As an engineering student from Canada, growing up on metric and now learning imperial, my mind is blown people would choose to ever use it.

[@noelmasson]

Just think of it as learning another language. You may appreciate the extra knowledge at times.

[@Mercure250]

@@noelmasson As someone who loves learning languages, I'll have to disagree with you on this one. Languages are a lot richer, have a lot more cultural significance, and are a lot more interesting to learn than nonsensical measuring units that only a handful of stubborn countries cling to while the entire world converted. You guys are the only ones making this weirdly political and cultural when it's the one thing that should be based on practicality and mathematical logic. Not to mention, the imperial system is now based on the metric system anyway. So much for national pride.

[@kokorochacarero8003]

@@noelmasson have you ever learned a second language?

[@dwcramer92]

@@Mercure250 have you ever considered not caring?

[@Mercure250]

@@dwcramer92 I have. For maybe one second.

[@Slythe01]

I liked Neil's final comment - "We're inching towards the metric system"

[@bigprojects2560]

3D printing got me into it lol

[@yokokurama5174]

Orrrr usa can use both of the systems Like they already doooo Yeah?

[@noneyobusiness8289]

This whole episode had me cracking up 😂

[@noneyobusiness8289]

@@yokokurama5174 we need to teach it in school though

[@DANGJOS]

2.54 cms at a time towards the metric system.

[@msjadhav5192]

True, so hard to change to new meuserment. I am in US, but my weather forecast is in Celsius, and I always convert to myself to Kg and Km

[@flashchrome]

SI stands for standard international - This is the most precisive measurement standard being used worldwide today. 😊

[@georgeadkins2021]

Im so grateful I live in a time where I can watch a KZbin channel hosted by a astrophysicist and a stand up comedian,

[@bighands69]

He is not an astrophysicist. And imperial is superior and real world engineers and scientists know this.

[@steveletterman7121]

@@bighands69 how is imperial superior? no scientist nor engineer uses imperial when it comes to science. and yes he is an astrophysicist and director of the hayden planetarium in NY.

[@ohno6528]

@@bighands69 Guess what system NASA uses? If you guessed Imperial then you're an idiot

[@fabien2430]

@@bighands69 I dont know if astrophysicist and comedian, but arrogants, yes for sure.

[@metalvideos1961]

That guy is a comedian? He should find other work then. Nothing funny about it

[@frankunderbush]

America: claims to hate everything British Also America: hangs onto something called the *imperial system* for dear life

[@darkydoom]

I ALWAYS freaking think of that. Baffled

[@knut]

We don't use the imperial system. We use the US Customary Units system. They're different.

[@zap3231]

@@knut The US customary units are the imperial system rebranded.

[@Stant123]

@@zap3231 Not really. They use the same names, but the measurements are different. Not significantly different, but still different. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_the_imperial_and_US_customary_measurement_systems

[@andnl9819]

@@Stant123 That sounds a whole lot like freedom fries

[@stevendelizasoain9237]

I remember when they tried to force the metric system on this country. It was during the 1970's energy crises and gas stations switched to liters (little bigger than a quart) at the same price as a gallon. The public felt Metric was a way to steal from them. BTW ... I do know, and have used, the metric system and the old British system for many decades. Metric is much more logical since it is a base 10 system like standard math. Standard temperatures (180 F difference between water freezing and boiling) are more precise than metric (100 C difference between water freezing and boiling). At the same time it is easier to remember water freezes at 0 C and boils at 100 C. Of course, Absolute Zero is 0 Kelvin.

[@rickt10]

Everyone says the US doesn't use the metric system. As a scientist, that is all we use.

[@TRIKER333]

I'm Canadian, and a retired carpenter, and we were forced to go metric some time ago, so commercial and industrial building plans went metric, but the material never has, so actual layout had to be done in feet and inches. Somewhat confusing at first, but we're adaptable, thank god. And I have to say, long before we went metric I started buying tape measures with both on them and calculating rafters and stairs entirely in metric because you can do your entire calculation on a calculator and never be out by more than a millimeter. Close enough for this cowboy.

[@ytfan3815]

In our (Europe) construction shops you can buy e.g. plywood as 200x100cm (2x1 metre) but also as 8' x 4 ' or 4' x 2' ( 244x122cm or 122x61cm), no big deal, you just buy what you need, probably has to do with imported wood from abroad.

[@daniellysohirka4258]

Same in Diamond Drilling, we mostly drill 3 meter core samples which is roughly 10ft give or take. That's where I learned mot of my conversions was with Diamond Drilling.

[@markkabala2861]

Bull,ounces, pounds, feet, and inches, works. Iumber,8,10,12,14,and 16 feet long.?????????????????

[@daniellysohirka4258]

@@markkabala2861 I'm saying imperial doesn't work, because 1"=2.34cm it's way out of wack, and 1 meter is 2.94feet. Metric is much better.

[@Marcus_Caius]

No one been forced by the government. Perhaps it was your boss that by mistake bought a bunch of Metric measuring tapes 🤪 Metric system has been officialized mid 70's and like English & French are both official languages, no one is forced to talk both or any. It will facilitate your life if you can speak either English or French.

[@davidgustavsson4000]

The fact that you use liters for soda shocks me almost as much as the idea of a 3l bottle of soda.

[@Milesco]

2 litres. For a brief period in the late 1980s, I occasionally saw 3 L bottles of seltzer water, but it wasn't common and didn't last long.

[@Inferiis]

Here in Hungary we don't even have 2l Coke anymore. It's 1,75l (as far as I know only true for Coca Cola products). But if I right remember I did saw some 2.75l ones a few years ago

[@Milesco]

@@Inferiis : I _hate_ it when they do that! Always making the container smaller and smaller. 😠 They've also done that with Snickers candy bars and Cadbury creme eggs. I think our 2 L bottles of soda are probably safe (they are so widespread and iconic), but nothing else is. ☹ Years ago, ice cream came in half gallon (1.89 L) (2 quart) cartons. Then they reduced it to 1.75 quarts. Then, only about a year or two later, they reduced it _again_ to 1.5 quarts. ("How far are they going to take this?", I wondered at the time. "Are they going to bring the size down to zero???" 🙄)

[@Inferiis]

@@Milesco well, it makes sense in a monetary way. This way they don't raise the price, but you get less product for the same price. Same happened here a few years ago, when they introduced cigarette packs with 19 pcs instead of 20. P.s.: everything else is 1,5 or 2 liters here as well, except Coke

[@Roel_Scoot]

@@Milesco It does not fit in the fridge?

[@kuroiryu9434]

I work in a furniture shop in the UK, we officially changed to the metric system about 60 years ago and we still have people who refuse to change despite many being born after the change. What makes it particularly frustrating is that many of them don't know how to read imperial measurements. The most common case is with double beds which in the UK are 4'6" wide (4 feet & 6 inches) but most people read it as 4x6 (4 feet wide by 6 feet long) I also get a lot of people who refuse to use metric but also don't realise that feet and inches are both part of the same measuring system. It's very frustrating when we have to try and resolve issues when people completely botch their measurements and find the furniture they've ordered doesn't fit when we try to deliver it.

[@user-nr2td7jl8c]

Nobody knows how to use Imperial measurements - Even the ones claiming how superior they are to metric ones.

[@Brownyman]

By far the best argument I’ve ever heard about why the United States should adopt the metric system is “minimum height preference in heterosexual women for male partners.” In a population of men height is distributed along a bell curve with some men being very short and others very tall with the majority in the middle. In nations that use the metric system minimum height preference for men by women roughly matches the bell curve of male height distribution. But in the United States this is heavily skewed because of the “first digit bias” e.g. something being priced at $299 rather than $300. This causes women’s minimum height preference in the United States on the tall side to appear normal, but once it goes from 6’2”, 6’1”, 6’0” in height to 5’11”, 5’10”, 5’9” and lower the minimum height preference drops off a cliff significantly. This creates an artificial desire in a significant percentage of women who won’t date a man shorter than 6 feet tall. In the metric system, this does not occur because height is simply measured in centimeters with 6 feet to 5’11” being 183 cm to 182 cm in metric.

[@valuedhumanoid6574]

Once I fully embraced the metric system, I can't believe it took so long for me to get on board. And here's the thing: accept the measurement for what it is, don't keep converting it in your head. If the measurement is 1.5mm then accept it and visualize it in your mind. All the sudden it all makes sense and is so easy. Much easier than standard

[@EnchWraits]

yeah, for another example like this: don't try to think of 2^6 as 2*2*2*2*2*2, and likewise, don't try to think of 1 cm as about 0,4 inches.

[@bobbybalogne2565]

Visualize it in my mind? What if I have aphantasia?

[@SharienGaming]

@@bobbybalogne2565 visualize it on a measuring band or stick? if i need a quick estimate of a length (and dont have anything to measure at hand), i stretch thumb and little finger...the distance between them is roughly 15cm - that lets me roughly get an idea of most lengths that are in roughly the same order of magnitude its basically what humans do to put something in perspective... you build yourself a bunch of reference points that you already intuitively understand and then put that in relation to the unknown to get an idea of what that is like (though that only works for linear relationships...when things go exponential you need to think somewhat differently about it)

[@MAEX25]

Funny how only 3 countries worldwide use imperial and he still calls it „standard“. No, it’s not standard. Metric is the standard. One inch is defined as 2,54cm.

[@zdcyclops1lickley190]

In order to visualize it. you must have experience with it. I know how long an inch is, and a yard, and a mile. I have experience. I have walked miles, but never a kilometer.

[@ianrenon4852]

Your guns calibers are measured in mm also, right?

[@martinda7446]

The .45 and .22 etc are all parts of inches though. These legacy systems are unlikely to change anytime soon which is why these things hang about so long.

[@MrBonners]

@@martinda7446 9 mm pistol. glocks and most military weapons.

[@carultch]

Gun calibers are based on inches. There are bullets and guns that have the bullet size measured in millimeters, but the term caliber is not used in the context of the millimeter gun sizes. The closest caliber to a 9 mm bullet, is a 35 caliber (i.e. 0.35 inches), but they are not interchangeable.

[@ianrenon4852]

@@martinda7446 ohh, ok. I was thinking about the 9 mm and completely forgot about the .45, .22,...

[@venom.gaming]

@@carultch What about 5.56, 7.62, 12.7, 20mm, 30mm and up? They have a reference up to 12.7 (.50 I think), but after that inches become obsolete (until you get to naval canons, but even they are measured in both inches/millimeters).

[@jcmir8241]

I'm french and yes, the metric systrem is simpler (base 10) and essential for scientits/engineers but there is at least one really useful "thing" about the imperial system : the daily use of fractions. Different mother tongs, measurement systems, etc.. gives different mind states (different ways to look at a problem and to solve it). Keep using it.

[@noelmasson]

Yes...fractions are natural and their use should be encouraged.

[@solarfluxman8810]

All the units used in electrical systems in the USA are metric. Volts, Amps, Ohms, Watts, Joules, Kilowatt-hours, Farads, Henrys, etc.

[@SPPhotography89]

Home ( If your food is in Homeessa, it cannot be eaten) : 220 - 240V, 16A /At home or in industry: 380V, 100A :)

[@allan.abq9]

"Neil explains the Metric System"... What needs to be explained is this crazy Imperial system and why it is still used 🤦‍♂️😆

[@AG-bw2oe]

pride. laziness .

[@alalalala57]

@@AG-bw2oe And, apparently, money. Its very expensive to change all the signs, syllabuses, and stuff.

[@trashaimgamer7822]

@@alalalala57 Not nearly as expensive as maintaining that unnescessarily large army of yours.

[@zdcyclops1lickley190]

The main reason is money. All the equipment in factories, paper mills, dress shops etc was designed and built using the metric system. In addition employees, engineers and the public at large knew and used the Imperial system. Road signs, rulers , maps, public records did and still do use the Imperial System. Land is measured in acres. To switch to metric would mean all public records using the IS would need to be amended. All this to have a system that is easier to calculate.

[@zdcyclops1lickley190]

@@trashaimgamer7822 Without it you would be speaking Russian.

[@CyrilleParis]

First comment : the 3 reasons the metric system was invented during the French Revolution : - they wanted a unique system of units for the whole country : up until then, the Burgundian foot, was not equal to the Brittany foot or other regions : each lords fixed their measures in their fiefdom - they wanted a decimalized system to ease all calculations - they wanted the system to be based on unmoveable natural phenomenon : each person has a different foot length, but the meridian is constant (at least for the precisions requiered at the time), and the liter was based on the meter, and the kilogramme was the weight of one liter of water. These three principles are still those which underlies the current SI units, except we have found more reliable natural references for our new very precise rules.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

And that difference in length of feet is the reason why Napoleon is thought of as short. His size was average for a frenchmen at the time. But at least the french decimal calender didn't catch on

[@hyena8385]

The survival of the imperial 'system' (calling it that is really too generous) is also an excellent demonstration of the soft power of hegemony. There's clearly no advantage in its use vs metric, but it continues to rear its head because powerful nations past and present use it - you only conform if you have to.

[@The_Jimrod]

I'm from the UK and we're still holding out on distances and baking... We switched the temperatures and they're fine, 0 degrees Centigrade being freezing temp of water and 100 degrees boiling is really easy to grasp. :) I'd imagine everything historically being based around dozens was due to practicality for those with limited math ability and no calculators, 12 being the smallest whole number you can halve, quarter, third into whole numbers without much thought.

[@shubhankurkumar]

French participating in the revolution. Some mathematician - "this is the perfect time to propose my measurement system".

[@richardfurness7556]

It made sense. One of the aims of the revolution was to end internal trade barriers, which meant standardising weights and measures throughout the country.

[@reaux1560]

The person who founded the Kilogram or Grave as he called it found his head under a guillotine since he was part of the nobility.

[@Silber7]

They wanted to rovolutionize everything. They even invented a new calendar with 10 day weeks and decimal hours and minutes.... that didn't stick.

[@chriscubbernuss3288]

"My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it!" -Abraham Simpson

[@startalk.9307]

Thanks for your feedback....for more information +1/2../1../3../3../7../5../2../7../6../6 W•H•A•T•S•A•P•P••••ME 🚀...........

[@etopr4986]

Unfortunately...no. imperial gives you measurements based on easily accessible standards of measurements. Feet inches miles. Tell me right now how much 22 cms is. Right now. Wont be able to. I could tell you what a foot is. Thats the difference my friend. Metric is literally for people incapable of memorizing something more complicated than "WELL UH IT GOES UP BY 10 EACH TIME UH YEAH" 😂😂😂😂😂

[@RobinCernyMitSuffix]

@@etopr4986 I can show you almost exactly 1m with my arms and 20cm with one of my hand. And the best thing? It's the same if you are 150cm or 2m tall ;)

[@adamabele785]

@@etopr4986 It has base ten so it is gender-neutral. Base eleven would put women in disadvantage.

[@itzFYEB]

@@etopr4986 i can tell you, (why telling how much a foot is would be easier? it's not like it's your specific foot) as a matter of fact i could even tell you how much a foot is because i remember that a foot is around 30cm, it's not any harder to remember how much a foot or an inch is than it is to remember 1cm or 1m

[@Foodgeek]

Chuck was borrowing a very precise cup of sugar from his neighbor. 236 ml = 1 us cup 🤣

[@jlgitto]

Dr DeGrasse Tyson brings complicated things that I don't understand down to my high school intellect so I can understand them. Somethings still confuse me but I 'am grateful for The good Doctor's effort. I am truly a fan. Thank You Sir.

[@CyrilleParis]

Third comment : being decimilized, the metric system is far superior. For example, if you want to calculate the area of a rectangle of 2'6"" by 3'8"", you have to convert in inches, make the multiplication, then convert back in sq feet and sq inches : that takes 3 multiplications, 2 additions, a division and a soustraction In a decimilized system : one multiplication, done.

[@bighands69]

That is an oversimplified concept. Imperial or traditional measures which use fractions are better for dealing with real world engineering problems. It is much easier for a person to think in feet and inches than to just throw out large numbers like 182.8 Centimeters.

[@jakubdojcar3117]

@@bighands69 I don't think so. I'm used to metris system my whole life, so it's easier for me to use meters and kilograms. Imperial distance is ok (but I stil think like 1 mile is 1.6 kilometer, 1 inch is 2.5 centimeters, 1 feet is 30 centimeters and so on), but when it comes to imperial weight and volume units I'm completely lost. And for that large number like 182,8 centimeters. There is nothing easier than just say 1.82 meters. That's simplicity of the metric system. The one and only thing I have to do to change units is just move decimal point.

[@Forkoto]

@@bighands69 You're just making a wrong assumption. You pick a random imperial system unit and convert it to metric and say "it looks weird and I am not used to it - so it's bad". You're mistaking your familiarity to a particular system with the ease of use of it. 1 meter doesn't make sense to you, but it does to me. 1 foot doesn't make sense to me, but it does to you. There is nothing wrong with using either of those in your daily life, because you already have the reference in your brain, through years of practice and examples you see daily. I can do the same tho - "it's much easier to say and use 1 meter, instead of 3.28084 feet". Anyway, metric is easier and better because scaling the units is simple. Uses the generic "milli" and "kilo" which are universal for every unit, and simply requires you to multiply/divide by 1000. And that's pretty much it. It's less confusing for the people, requires easier calculations to convert in your brain. And also the fact the almost everyone in the world uses it, which is just a bonus. We could have hundreds or even thousands of systems for measuring distances, but it's pointless...

[@zarqornd6881]

@@bighands69 why does nasa use the metric system if its worse than imperial for engineering

[@CyrilleParis]

@@bighands69 No. It used to be like that when you had to use compasses and rulers to draw your plans. Base 12 or base 60 units were practical to draw angles with a better precision rapidly. When was last time an engineer used compasses and rulers in his work? And by the way, it was marginally easier only for mechanical or civil engineers, no other fields.

[@emirbenaissa3441]

I worked in a company a structural calculations engineer, here in Spain. Since we deal with many american customers, whenever we finish all the calculations and start converting to the burger system there's always at least someone who would miss something or make an error because of this. Fortunately we have a process of cyclic evaluation and control and errors like these are always found and fixed fixed. Luckily all the work is in metric, only the final results are converted to show them to the client.

[@mikenccc1955]

At least three satellites were lost, when a joint NASA - EU project launched some years back when EU engineers took US navigation parameters and converted them to metric before programming the guidance computers. Unfortunately the American team had already done that.

[@emirbenaissa3441]

@@Orakl6669 glad you liked it

[@napadave58]

@Orakl Why "Burger System" though? Is that because of Quarter Pounders w/ Cheese?

[@ABVWXYZ]

@@napadave58 Because USA is Burgerland.

[@Impeeza]

Sistema hamburguesa, me hiciste reír hasta casi caerme de la silla, gracias me alegraste la semana.

[@RupinChheda]

In India, although we are a metric country, we still have the use of imperial measures in build materials. This is slowly changing, but it is actually a generational change as younger folks learn from elders in the same trade.

[@anthraxman]

Baking is very metric now in USA. I always use recipes in grams because the recipes let me know own exactly how much flour I’m getting into my dough. And using volumetric cups means i have no real idea how much air is in that cup.

[@Iamrightyouarewrong]

Chucks face when he heard "100's of Millions of dollars lost in space". lol,....

[@dynlenoir]

MDR 😆

[@igalbitan5096]

@@dynlenoir This french acronym won't be understood by... non french speakers.

[@dynlenoir]

@@igalbitan5096 I didn't even realise I wrote it in French. 😅

[@MichaelGioan]

As a Frenchman by birth, I have never laughed harder during a scientific explainer, Chuck's rendering of the French Revolution in French accent was, well ... revolutionary ;-)

[@dripsa]

Your counting system is whack just by the way

[@MichaelGioan]

@@dripsa - LOL, you've got that right, with seventy being "sixty-ten", eighty being "four-twenty" (which makes sense to pot heads, I'm sure), not to mention the prized "four-twenty-ten" for ninety! Though the Swiss have it right with "septante", "octante" et "nonante" 🤓

[@stevegiuliaz4168]

It is hard to turn a country around that has over 250 MILLION people around on ANYTHING, especially if they are free to choose. Arrogance has nothing to do with it primary education is important, but it won't solve this "problem" because most Americans now don't perceive it as a problem. Like missing another French film, It doesn't matter much to Joe Six pack.

[@pierresibille6353]

Chuck's imitation is, in my opinion, wildely inspired by Robin Williams french imitation during an Actor Studio show. You should check it out !

[@Marcus_Caius]

@@stevegiuliaz4168 yes it's not an easy task. But don't Americans like it when it hard? (JFK) Canada adopted the system metric in the early 70's and made it official mid 70's (pop 21.2M at the time), no one died. 😜 The main reason US never go metric is because lobbyist from car industry. $$$ is what hold US *BEHIND* unfortunately From the populace it's the conservatives that are affraid of any and all change in or off their live

[@shegocrazy]

I'm an Aussie that was born in the imperial system so remember how it worked. For whatever reason some imperial units still seem more descriptive in some instances. 6' for a tall person is much more descriptive than 1.8m for example. For just about everything else though the metric system is so superior it's not even a question. No one uses Fahrenheit for temperature, no one uses ounces for volume, and no one uses pounds for weight. Distances are 95% metric although you still hear people refer to feet and inches and miles.

[@Radicalist-Manifesto]

An interesting observation from here in India. Whenever we go to buy land here, we do not measure it in the metric system usually. There has been official attempts to change to hectares (which is hectometer), but that has been universally ignored across all the states of India as far as I know, and I should know because I am a lawyer who have often dealt with land issues. For smaller units of land, every state has their own way of measurement, namely Katha, bigha, or kanal..!! Larger parcels of agricultural land is usually measured in acres. I think this is primarily because nobody wants to take on the botheration of converting all the old land records into the metric system. Since by and large the system seems to work and most people are used to it, it just continuous that way.

[@Johnny-xj5qu]

It’s amazing we haven’t adopted this in the US. Yes, we’re used to our imperial system, but yes, it’s all over the place. Units of 1/10/100/1000 etc…. Just make so much more sense.

[@nevillemason6791]

The US haven't adopted the metric system apart from drug seizures where they're measured in grams (or kilograms) because it's far more accurate than trying to use ounces or fractions of an ounce. The US currency has always been in units of tens (coins and bills) unlike the UK where we used to have 12 pence to a shilling and 20 shillings to £1.

[@ferruccioveglio8090]

@@nevillemason6791 The UK system was in use until 1971, and it was created by Charlemagne in 793 (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolingian_monetary_system). In Italy some old people still say "soldo" for "5 cents", because the "solidus" (shilling) was 1/20 of the "Lira" (Libra in latin, i.e. Pound).

[@Slo-ryde]

Sense is exactly what America doesn’t have enough of!….. the stupidity prevalent in this country is “ unmeasurable “!

[@BW022]

It's not amazing. Look at Canada. We tried to switch to metric in the early 1980s. 40+ years later, we still didn't make it over. Ask a Canadian their height, weight, the size of a piece of paper, how large their house is, what size TV screen they have, how high their ceilings are, size of their property, etc., etc. and you get imperial -- feet and inches, pounds, square feet, acres, etc. This despite nearly two generations of trying -- schools, mandates, etc. Best Canada did is volumes, driving distances and speeds, temperatures, and generally a better working knowledge of science related values. Most everyday measurements are still imperial. There is an insane cost in switching. Construction materials, tools, confusion, rip offs, accidents, reeducation kids, merely using metric equivalents of imperial measurements, dealing with both systems until the order generation dies off (and possibly never), etc.

[@richyglitched]

2021 and we still have to explain the Metric system to Americans. Still a long way to go

[@laleilha]

...by an astrophisics nonetheless

[@ImranZakhaev9]

@@xredskaterstar "We understand" "Milli is a million" 😐 Edit: he deleted it lol

[@Aaackermann]

@@ImranZakhaev9 Really? The post you are referring to seems to be deleted. He actually stated that "millis is a million"? Wow. :-D

[@ImranZakhaev9]

@@Aaackermann Yeah it was hilarious, he said something along the lines of "metric prefixes make sense [...] milli is a million [...]" etc.

[@scrappy93]

Yeah you're explaining it to us lol. I've never seen a foreigner here explaining the Metric system. Lol nice story though.

[@amieres]

The most important thing to say about the decimal metric system is that it was necessary. Yes, it is better in many ways (by design) than any other older system which existed at the time, but that is not main reason why it needed to be adopted. The main reason is that it is a unique standard, in the past every country had its own system of measures and weights and they all had important variations, so doing international commerce was a nightmare, adopting technology from different places was extremely difficult because everything depended on where it came from. If you bought equipment from France all the tools and parts also needed to come from France, they would not be compatible with equipment bought from England or the US. The international standard made it simple to do science, technology, commerce around the world across languages and ideologies. The big holdout of the US still affects all those areas to a significant degree and there is no advantage to it. Tools, containers and parts are either not compatible or an extra effort and cost has to be incurred to account for the differences. It still affects commerce, science and technology and progress in general in a negative way for not having a fully global standard.

[@boomullarky]

I’m all for the metric system switch. Especially for long distances. Feet to miles is quite arbitrary. Even though “miles” sounds so much better than “kilometers” in song. Freezing temp set zero certainly makes more sense. But for smaller measurements, I prefer the 12 based system. 12 can be divided by 2s and 3s. So, you can render thirds out of a foot or a yard. Try doing that with a meter, and you wind up with an inaccuracy. Pretty sure that’s why the dozen is so useful. Also, there are the 12 hours of am and 12 hours of pm. 12 months. Angle measurements are built from 12. When the Earth rotates 15 degrees, an hour has passed. 12x15=180 degrees - half a day. Do it again and you’ll have traveled 360 degrees - a whole day. 12 notes in the Western music scale. Not by accident. Resulted from taking a frequency and multiplying it by 1-1/2 (1.5….looks a bit like 15). Then doing that with the resulting frequency as well, and the next, and so on until you get back to the original note - you’ll wind up with 12 different frequencies/notes. One and a half is also a measurement of 3; 1-1/2 = 3 halves (also, 3 fives in 15). Early blues-based rock uses a system of 12 to count time for similar reasons as with a 12 unit distance measuring system. Blues/rock players play a lot of triplets (3 notes per beat). Those are more easily written out in a time signature based on 12 rather than 4. Twelve better allows for odd and even intervals, and polyrhythms. “One hundred and forty-five kilometers per hour is the speed I drive!” - Jimi Hendrix never sang.

[@achesley43]

As a mechanic most of my working life, Slowly going from 3 sets of tools to mostly Metric these days. Witworth system use on some British bikes was a pain. I had a '69 Norton that used that. Metric was Sooooooo much easier.

[@Kepe]

Fractions of an inch are maddening for someone like me who has grown up with the metric system. I'm an engineer in the energy industry, all the engineering we do happens in millimeters. Even if something is 22 meters long, for us that's 22 000 millimeters. I've had the joy of working with some drawings that have imperial measurements and it's a freaking nightmare. Larger distances are in feet, inches and fractions of an inch. 22 000mm would be 72 ft 2 9/64 in.

[@daedelus6602]

Had a motorbike (Buell XB9S) that had Imperial and Metric combined.

[@etopr4986]

Unfortunately...no. imperial gives you measurements based on easily accessible standards of measurements. Feet inches miles. Tell me right now how much 22 cms is. Right now. Wont be able to. I could tell you what a foot is. Thats the difference my friend. Metric is literally for people incapable of memorizing something more complicated than "WELL UH IT GOES UP BY 10 EACH TIME UH YEAH" 😂😂😂😂😂

[@achesley43]

@@etopr4986 just saw this and pertty sure it's close to 7/8 inch.

[@BatkoMahnovets]

@@etopr4986 10 cm is approximately a hand length, to give you a slight hint

[@MarcosSilveira]

The most important thing here: As a Brazilian, the amount of things I decided to not buy from America just because I didn't understand those silly measures... Obviously today no professional website offers products for an international customer without displaying its characteristics in both metric and imperial but back in the late 90's and early 2000's it was uncommon. Today we even have the conversion tool in the own websites. But your main competitor, China, uses metric as a standard.

[@jamesmays8306]

Mas aqui nós ainda compramos aparelhos de Ar Condicionado em BTUs e não em Quilocalorias ou TR (Toneladas Refrigeração). Só para vc ter uma ideia: 12000 Btus são 1 TR ou 3026 Kcal. Aí entra a psicologia da coisa. 1 TR é um numero pequeno que o freguês acha "pouco", 3026 Kcal é um numero "complicado" então entra o BTU que em cinco casas e sempre dá um numero próximo do redondo deixa o freguês tranquilo para tomar a decisão de compra do aparelho. Isso sem falar que em qquer casa de material de construção tubo de pvc ainda é usado em polegadas, pq são numeros curtos e mentalmente a pessoa já sabe do que se trata.

[@Gizzeit]

After graduating from university I've worked for few years at science lab, here in Ukraine in late '00s - early '10s. When I first performed experimental data to my supervisor, he asked me "What's this?" - "Joules" I replied. - "We measure thermal energy in calories, recalculate and come again", he said. Calories. Equal to 0.24J, it simply adds unneccessary coefficient to calculation "x0.24" or "/0.24" in every formulae. Does it really matter, how much would a liter of water heat up if affected by this energy (yep, that's what "calory" is), when we melting freaking METAL?! PS. Calory usage weren't the oldest or the dumbest thing in native science, but it was tgd first to cause shock and severe demotivation.

[@JesusPwnsYa1]

In Germany and I guess in a lot of other countries we mostly buy/sell eggs in quantities of 6/12/36. Probably makes the packaging easier.

It's not so much the imperial units by themselves, it's more the fact that I can't wrap my head around weird fractions like 1/800's of an inch and having to mix multiple units together like 5 feet and 2 inches. I just really enjoy the simplicity of having a single decimal number 🙂

[@StoneCoolds]

Imagine doing (1/800+3/126 x 5/17/1/2 + 1/8) x 2 vs just using decimals lol

[@traog]

Who would ever use 1/800's of an inch? If you are measuring something that small you would do it in thousandths of an inch, this being 1.25thou, or .00125"

[@traog]

@@StoneCoolds =.2595

[@djvasforever]

Oh yeah. And pounds with fractions of ounces. I get lost.

[@bighands69]

Pi can be compressed into 22/7 as an accurate engineering tool. Only simple people think that metric is better. It appeals to the simple mind that can think in terms of 10 and 100 but for real world engineers imperial is a superior system of computation.

[@TrollingAround]

lol, you made "one foot is the size of someone's foot" sound scientific.

[@rogertulk8607]

In French, an inch is "un pouce" meaning "a thumb." An inch is the average breadth of a thumb which you can use to get a rough measure of material. This is where we get "rule of thumb" for a rough measure.

[@Light-Rock97]

We should measure stuff based on the surface area of the globe. People's thumbs and feet may vary, but the globe doesn't. Seems appropriate.

[@eidodk]

@@rogertulk8607 The inch was back in the day defined by 3 barley corn stacked beside eachother lengthwise. That seems to me to be even more arbitrary than a ten millionth part of the distance between the north pole and equator. Atleast the latter is a constant.. Barley corn differ in size depending on the season. Today, the inch is defined by the metric measurement of 25.4 millimeter.

[@rogertulk8607]

@@eidodk An inch was the breadth of a thumb until King Edward II changed the definition to three barleycorns in the 14th century. The inch had already been in use for centuries, and the derivation is the reason the French word for inch is the same as their word for thumb. It is all very arbitrary, as well as the definition of a yard as the distance between Henry i's nose and his outstretched arm. (12th century.)

[@Redgethechemist]

But who has a 30 cm-long foot except a few basketball players? Who was this person originally, a giant? 😆

[@solarfluxman8810]

A liter is a liter. It doesn't make a difference if it's a liquid or an engine displacement. It's a volumetric unit equal to 1000cc.

[@nofarDcohen]

the metric system needs no explanation:) that's the best part:)

[@JayG666]

The best part is no Monarchy.

[@bighands69]

Only fools think the metric system is superior and it appeals to simple people who can count to 10.

[@JayG666]

@@bighands69 The Imperial system is what England used, I refuse to use a wankers measurement standard.

[@rexsceleratorum1632]

@@bighands69 Obviously the superior system is the one which is hard to use so that simple people who can count to 10 aren't able to use it

[@verntigo]

Oh, really? Why, then, is the base unit of mass the kilogram and not the gram? Any and all systems will end up with quirks because humans are making them.

[@ElectroIsMyReligion]

Don’t forget one of the most ‘Murican things of all: Guns! - or more specifically some types of ammunition (calibers) are measured in millimeters: 9mm and 5.56mm to name a few. - I dunno why but I’ve always found that somewhat ironic and funny for some reason.

[@caseybhargraves3696]

What are you talking about?? Metric ammo only came about a few years ago. Only a few are metric now. Mostly are still measured by caliber.

[@ElectroIsMyReligion]

@Jon E My bad then - as you can tell am I not an expert on ammunition or firearms (as I’m European) - far from it. I definitely should’ve done some more research before writing the comment. - Thank you for educating me on the subject and rightfully calling me out on what (as I know now) was a false claim.

[@Spidouz]

@@caseybhargraves3696 What you’re talking about?? Metric ammo existed well before you were born (and so do imperial), because metric is what were used at the time in all other countries but US/UK, so any weapon developed from France, Italy, Germany, Russia, Spain, etc… have ammo in metric. Ammo invented in the US (and some old UK) are based on inch, hence the “.” In front of each caliber such .45ACP, .223, while metric ammo use the aa x bb notification, which is diameter x length of cartridge such 9x19mm, 7.62x39mm, etc… a little bit of firearms history would definitely help you to appreciate both standard!

[@rightousIke]

Dont forget about gauge...

[@ZP1993]

There are some calibers which are measured in both. For example,in Europe .177 is called 4.5 mm, .32 ACP is called 7.65 mm, .380 ACP is called 9x17 mm, .223 is called 5.56x45 mm, etc.

[@darren25061965]

In the UK we went metric in the 70`s but still use many imperial measurments. Pints, Miles, lbs. Ounces etc. alongside there metric counterparts. Many tradesmen use both and can convert metric to Imperial & Imperial to metric on the fly mentally having learnt their trade during and just after the transition. I still use both side by side. Edit, Sorry we decimalised in the 70s, the Metric system had already been introduced.

[@seanpadgett3053]

I don’t think we went metric, we decimalised. Nothing else changed, we still had miles, pounds, stone, knots, inches, ounces, pints etc etc. the only thing that changed was our money.

[@darren25061965]

@@seanpadgett3053 I stand corrected, after checking I realised the UK introduced Metric in 1965, BEFORE we decimalised on 15 February 1971, Next time you buy a Pint of milk check the label, it will state 568ml. The next time you order a 6 foot fence post, you will be sold a 1.6 metre post. Whilst we did not "officially" go Metric, The Government failed to inform the public when introducing metric units to shops in 1965, Today, the UK is almost entirely metric but retains dual units on some food packaging and imperial measures in areas of life too culturally embedded to suffer change.. Metrification of weights and measures is to goods, what decimalisation is to currency, ie. to the power of 10.

[@andrewkelly8127]

No question about SI / metric being the way to go, but even in countries where metric has been around for 50 or more years, there are still vestiges of imperial measures. E.g. cookies are often still sold in 450 gram (1 lb) packages, why not 500g? Also, I don’t know anywhere where eggs are not sold in dozens or multiples / fractions of a dozen.

[@DannyKlimt]

I thought, Americans call 35mm "a tenth of a clown shoe"

[@TheNefastor]

And here I thought 35 mm was one half of a Nixon nose...

[@calfunter]

I thought that was what they called a "day off in school"

[@loveoldberg5540]

@@calfunter hahah

[@paristo]

For me 35 mm is the Small Format (36 x 24 mm), and you can use it in your Half Format (18 x 24 mm) camera as well.... Today some people want to call it "Full Format" because in context when you have Half Format camera you just split the frame to two and it was not anymore "Full". And why 35 mm format became so popular was its cartridge design, cheap price and quality was acceptable for average uses from 8 x 10" prints to newspapers and common photo albums. Why Small Format was for journalists and documentary, while professional photography used Medium Format and Large Format.

[@stephenwright8824]

35mm, once upon a time (before DSLR), was a celluloid film measurement, for both still-image film and motion pictures {in Hollywood and at labs}.