Metric/Imperial measurments and driving test requirments

[ZBB]

Serios ? You are joking?

What is so difficult do know, when the view is under 50m take on the rear fog light ?

Very children knows that, in European.

Remember, American's don't know what a meter is...

Also, the US does not have nearly the level of driver training required in Europe. You basically have to be able to pass a 15-20 question multiple choice test on driving laws and road signs. In some places you have to take an in-car driving test (although I've never had one...).

When it comes to fog lights, many people here think they are "driving lights" and use them at all times. Very annoying...

 

[mknox]

Remember, American's don't know what a meter is...

C'mon! That's what's used to tell how much electricity or water you use :smile:

 

[DDotJ]

Remember, American's don't know what a meter is...

Also, the US does not have nearly the level of driver training required in Europe. You basically have to be able to pass a 15-20 question multiple choice test on driving laws and road signs. In some places you have to take an in-car driving test (although I've never had one...).

When it comes to fog lights, many people here think they are "driving lights" and use them at all times. Very annoying...

Actually in CA you need to get 39 out of 45 questions to pass the written portion of the exam. The questions are actually very poorly written

 

[jerry33]

Actually in CA you need to get 39 out of 45 questions to pass the written portion of the exam. The questions are actually very poorly written

And if you can't read English or French (depending upon location), you can use a translator to answer the questions for you.

 

[agentsmith1612]

Very intresting answers here.

I assume out of the answers that it is too easy to get a driving license in US and I won't feel comfortable to drive when ever I will come to the USA driving a car there.

 

[brianman]

Remember, American's don't know what a meter is...

It's where you used to test out your best pickup lines with the maids, in the before time. Right?

 

[Johan]

Well, the meter IS the only SI-unit with no natural base in nature/physics. No more logic than inch/foot/yard etc.

 

[ChrisgG]

Well, the meter IS the only SI-unit with no natural base in nature/physics. No more logic than inch/foot/yard etc.

sure it's mor logic than the others because it multiplies with 10 to he next bigger unit

10mm = 1cm
100cm = 1m
1000m = 1km

thats way better than

12inch = 1 foot
3foot = 1 yard
1760 yards = 1mile

maybe the english and the americans are way smarter than I am but I get a brain cramp to figure out how many miles 12320 yards are. So with using meters instead I save so much time I can come hear and post. Arn't you all greatfull for that?

 

[agentsmith1612]

sure it's mor logic than the others because it multiplies with 10 to he next bigger unit

10mm = 1cm
100cm = 1m
1000m = 1km

thats way better than

12inch = 1 foot
3foot = 1 yard
1760 yards = 1mile

maybe the english and the americans are way smarter than I am but I get a brain cramp to figure out how many miles 12320 yards are. So with using meters instead I save so much time I can come hear and post. Arn't you all greatfull for that?

Thanks for your post.
That is what I want to mention all the time when I am reading here some values in inch or miles. Very horrible to imagine for an European person.

Little notice: in the metric system everytime there are steps in 1*10³ steps (fm, nm, µm, mm, m, km) starting at femto meters going to km, as an example. But cm is not a SI unit.
The same in temperature values. Do you know the equation to convert °C in °F or other way round ?

Here is it (nobody can use it without a calculator):
T[°C] = (T[°F]-32)*5/9
T[°F] = T[°C]*1,8+32

 

[mknox]

sure it's mor logic than the others because it multiplies with 10 to he next bigger unit

Problem is, in most day to day activities I rarely see anyone doing any conversions even if they are multiples of 10. It is about 4,000 km between where I live in Canada and my brother lives in LA, but no one says it's 4 megameters. People talk in grams or kilograms depending on what the commodity is. Same in the old units: people generally talk in feet, miles and sometimes yards but rarely convert between units.

 

[agentsmith1612]

You are right mknox people used these units every day and everybody in the US is known of this used units. Other continent other units. In Europeoan nobody knows that 12 inch is 1 foot or 3 foot is 1 yard. I did not know it either.

My mum sometimes say go and buy one pound of meat. I know that this is 500 gramm but the young children don't know it and never used that.

The same discussion between physics and chemists. Chemists used for energy very often the unit wavenumber [1/cm] or wavelength [nm] physics always used joules [J] or electronvolts [ev].

 

[ZestyChicken]

2.2 pounds is 1 kg so you're a bit off. I know most of the conversions but I guess I'm the rare educated American (we all learn this is science classes in grade school). I do wish the US would go the rest of the way and convert fully. We buy soda by the liter for instance.

The metric system is better for just about everything except height. Saying 5'10" is a lot better than 1.7 meters or 178 cm. Maybe you get used to it...

 

[agentsmith1612]

2.2 pounds is 1 kg so you're a bit off. I know most of the conversions but I guess I'm the rare educated American (we all learn this is science classes in grade school). I do wish the US would go the rest of the way and convert fully. We buy soda by the liter for instance.

The metric system is better for just about everything except height. Saying 5'10" is a lot better than 1.7 meters or 178 cm. Maybe you get used to it...

I think your pound is another pound as our. In German it is called "Pfund" and it is 500 g. Sorry for the confusion.

5'10 is better than 178 cm or 1,7m would never sign this, because I could not imagine how high it is.
The more confusion with 5'10 for people that do not know it, is in my opinion that this system is not based on 10, 100 or 1000 steps to the next other magnitude.
5'10 means 5 foot and 10 inch right? The other confusion could be that there are to different units used for one expression (foot and inch).

The challenge is that we are two different cultures with two different systems. ;-)

 

[Rodolfo Paiz]

Well, the meter IS the only SI-unit with no natural base in nature/physics. No more logic than inch/foot/yard etc.

Incorrect, my dear Johan. You are confusing the meter with the kilogram, which is defined simply as the mass of a specific lump of metal stored in Paris. The kilo is the only SI unit without a base in nature/physics, just tradition.

The meter was defined in 1960 as "1,650,763.73 wavelengths of the orange-red emission line in the electromagnetic spectrum of the krypton-86 atom in a vacuum".

 

[Bearman]

Incorrect, my dear Johan. You are confusing the meter with the kilogram, which is defined simply as the mass of a specific lump of metal stored in Paris. The kilo is the only SI unit without a base in nature/physics, just tradition.

The meter was defined in 1960 as "1,650,763.73 wavelengths of the orange-red emission line in the electromagnetic spectrum of the krypton-86 atom in a vacuum".

And was then in 1983 replaced with its current definition:

The metre is the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1⁄299,792,458 of a second.

 

[VolkerP]

Incorrect, my dear Johan. You are confusing the meter with the kilogram, which is defined simply as the mass of a specific lump of metal stored in Paris. The kilo is the only SI unit without a base in nature/physics, just tradition.

The meter was defined in 1960 as "1,650,763.73 wavelengths of the orange-red emission line in the electromagnetic spectrum of the krypton-86 atom in a vacuum".

Still wrong, Rodolfo :wink:. The meter was defined as 1/10.000.000 of the distance from pole to earths equator by the french academy of sciences in Paris in 1791. The french got distracted with beheading monarchs and several wars after 1783, but resumed useful work in 1799 and defined the kilogram as weight of 1L of water at 4°C (point of highest density) in 1799. Where the liter is derived from the meter 1000L=1m³. Both definitions for m and kg were reworked later, as you noted.

SI units are m s kg A K mol cd

Imperial system is a mixture today, because Ampere and Watt are well established units. But 1W = 1kg m²/s³ :biggrin:

 

[Johan]

Yes my point, kg is 1 liter of water at it's most dense temp (4 C) while the meter is just not... Well anything in particular. Later you can reverse engineer it and define it as whatever you want in nature (vs speed of light, this-or-that atoms in a row etc). In the end, the meter is the lenght of the original meter stick (the actual "lump of metal in Paris" referred to above, though it's not a lump but more a stick/bar).

 

[inottawa]

I'm not really sure why I felt the need to read this entire thread carefully.. but I did, and now my brain hurts and I regret it..

 

[meloccom]

Well, the meter IS the only SI-unit with no natural base in nature/physics. No more logic than inch/foot/yard etc.

Well actually no, that's not correct.

When originally conceived the meter was intended to be one Ten Millionth of the distance from the Earths equator to the North Pole. However with the passage of time our understanding of that distance has changed so now this no longer applies.

Most other metric units of measurement are derived from the Meter such as a Liter is the volume of 0.01 cubic Meters.

Plus, personally I would rather do my calculations on base 10 than base 12.

In Australia we had imperial measurement up to 1975 and Metric from then. Never entirely understood why the USA never followed.

Then there are North American paper sizes

 

[jpasqua]

Well actually no, that's not correct.

In Australia we had imperial measurement up to 1975 and Metric from then. Never entirely understood why the USA never followed.

Then there are North American paper sizes

I'm with you on the metric system. I wish we had adopted it in the US years ago. I think our paper sizes are just fine though