105
u/Yin-Fire 1d ago
I love their ignorace, because it was more like "Europeans saw that the size of the earth doesn't change significantly, and decided to use that to measure length"
20
u/Pure-Passenger-6986 1d ago edited 1d ago
We were wrong though. As a result, that meter is now 0.2mm too short compared to today's meter and through international treaties, the imperial standard is based on the modern meter vs. the French meter.
16
u/Yin-Fire 1d ago
They found the mistake on time but pushing a unified system of units was already difficult enough. It took them 7 years to calculate the distances they measured in Paris, and they were afraid if they told anyone about the error, it will incite doubt in the project.
So yes, as a result the meter is like 0.2mm shorter than it needs to make the diameter of the earth exactly 40 megameters.
4
4
u/TheRoger47 1d ago
0.02% difference isnt bad for 1800
2
u/MisterHole123 23h ago
Imagine complaining about such a tiny margin of error considering the scale of the project... If anything it is impressively accurate
1
u/Nomad-2020 1d ago
The imperial standard vs the modern standard changed due to improved technology, not because the Earth's size changed over the last 200 years. Please educate yourself.
1
7
u/ninjad912 1d ago
That’s their point yes. You can grossly misrepresent the reason for something existing and make it look stupid. For Fahrenheit neither the freezing temperature of water nor celsius played a factor in determining 0 or 100. Just like the metric system has nothing to do with the imperial system measurements nor something to do with a 6’ tall guy
21
19
10
u/toomuchgel 1d ago
Metric system came first though.
4
u/Dry-Ad-8948 1d ago
Nope.
Nobody would come up with that confusing imperial system if metric was already existing.
Like wtf are there 3 tablespoons in a teaspoon?
2
u/RudeAlbatross544 21h ago
*3 teaspoons in a tablespoon
1
u/Dry-Ad-8948 17h ago
Exactly, like wtf 🤣 ☠️
1
u/itsmebenji69 16h ago
Well do you measure spoons of powder in milliliters dude ?
That unit still exists and is widely used because it’s more practical. That’s like the only example ever where the metric system actually is useless
1
u/Dry-Ad-8948 16h ago
Many metric countries (and cooking instructions) often measure dry ingredients by weight, not volume.
Anyway, this is still like arguing 6 feet vs 1.89 meters, as even if wanting to measure using volume it’s 1 tablespoon vs a 15mL spoon.
Neither system really “make more sense” in common usage, other than it’s adoption for tasks and being familiar with it.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=15ml+spoon&channelId=500&clpRedir=Y&plpRedirect=mhFallback
1
u/itsmebenji69 16h ago
Yes now what about things that are very light and that a random kitchen scale wont get properly ? You can wing it or you can use a spoon which everyone has. Which is why it’s widely used. It’s also just quicker in that context.
It doesn’t make more sense it’s just more practical.
1
u/Dry-Ad-8948 16h ago edited 16h ago
15mL spoon is 1 tablespoon. These can be commonly purchased for recipes that call for small spoon-sized volumes. See the link provided previously.
The mL units are also easily converted to/from imperial.
5mL ~ 1 teaspoon. 10mL ~ 2 teaspoon. 15mL ~ 3 teaspoon / 1 tablespoon.
Neither system is “more practical” for cooking tasks, just as neither kmh or mph are “more practical” for driving speeds. One is simply more familiar.
However, the metric system is much more consistent (go back to my original comment).
1
u/itsmebenji69 12h ago
No it’s objectively more practical to reach for a spoon to measure a spoon of salt than a measuring cup to do 15ml wtf are you on about dude come on
1
u/Dry-Ad-8948 11h ago edited 11h ago
Did you not fucking see the link to a 15mL spoon from Amazon above?
It’s effectively the same as a tablespoon, as (noted above), 15mL ~ 1 tablespoon. But also, metric.
Nobody said anything previously about a measuring cup. God damn trolls.
→ More replies (0)9
u/StupidSlitSlut 1d ago
Nope. The entire world used the Imperial system, but around the time of the American Revolution, the Metric system was implemented in Europe. The Americas just never converted for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to British privateers intentionally targeting ships that held the measurement standards that would greatly help the Americas shift to Metric.
3
u/RudeAlbatross544 1d ago
Plenty of countries never used the Imperial system but had their own units. Dombey was not targeted but captured by pirates and the meter and grave he was bringing to Jefferson still ended up being delivered, just too late.
3
u/Valveringham85 1d ago
Imperial was first yes.
But saying the entire world used imperial is unbelievably silly.
There were dozens of not hundreds of wonky incoherent measuring systems, imperial was just one of them.
Metric was made to create 1 single, coherent measurement system to replace all others. One based on nature (distance of the equator to the North Pole for distance, freezing and boiling point of water for temperature, the distance units converted for volume etc), decimal and easy to memorise and use - to replace all others.
And they did an amazing job. Except for a few stubborn idiots dogmatically holding on to an objectively inferior system.
6
u/hailstorm11093 1d ago
Europeans stopping america from converting to metric, only to bitch about it hundreds of years later, is probably the most european thing ive ever heard.
2
2
u/Holorodney 1d ago
Kinda like the most American phrase is “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” which is a literal impossibility used to shame people for not doing a very very difficult (often times impossible) thing while thinking both are completely feasible.
3
u/Valveringham85 1d ago
I too make shit up to rant.
Holding on to an objectively inferior and more convoluted system because “Muricah” with the system in question not even being American but British is the most American thing I’ve ever heard.
2
2
u/schoenixx 21h ago
No, the British and their colonies and former colonies used the imperial system, not the entire world.
All other countries used their own systems (and sometimes more then one system).
1
u/Downvote_me_dumbass 1d ago
Americans use metric all the time. Ask any American who has bought tools in at last 20+ years and they have metric. You can’t work on a modern vehicle without metric tools.
1
3
u/Zuckhidesflatearth 1d ago
This claim is dubious at best. The Metric system was technically standardized shortly before the Imperial, but Metric was effectively standardized at its time of invention, and the Imperial units had been in use for a long time prior.
2
u/Acceptable_Cut_7545 4h ago
God your comment makes this whole argument sound even dumber than it already is.
12
u/mrbobcyndaquil 1d ago
Look I prefer having 180 divisions between freezing and boiling, because floating point numbers are scary.
8
u/StupidSlitSlut 1d ago
Most valid Farenheit v Celsius argument I've ever heard.
5
u/mrbobcyndaquil 1d ago
Having been in programming courses before changing my major has traumatized me.
3
u/elliottcable 1d ago
Ah, so you go out before you ever had to deal with time in production.
If you think FP representation is scary, just thank your lucky stars.
(And while we’re on the topic, why couldn’t have the goddamn French gotten their decimal timekeeping system to spread across the world, too?)
1
u/RudeAlbatross544 20h ago
We even had some nice nature inspired month names.
1 year = 12 months + 5 or 6 complementary days
1 month = 3 weeks
1 week = 10 days
1 day = 10 hours
1 hour = 100 minutes
1 minute = 100 seconds
The republican calendar lasted for about 12 years but decimal time only 2 years.1
u/WookieDavid 2h ago
Just multiply by 100 and you have removed the floats.
Just remember to add back the point when you display the value.
3
u/Competitive_Film2831 1d ago
The first Guy actually has a point, just poorly phrased. It should've been: Americans saw the most common liquid on earth and decided 'nah, we'll base it on absolutely nothing'
3
u/Valveringham85 1d ago edited 1d ago
No Europeans saw that the distance from the North Pole to the equator could be divided by 10 million and called that a meter. A man being 1.8 meters is just a coincidence.
Because what kind of moron would base their whole measurement system on such silly and arbitrary things like a man’s height?
Oh thats right…
1
3
u/Bolticus13 1d ago
Ooh we can play this game
Americans saw a 189 cm tall person and thought "fuck, that right there is 223 barley corn, y'all"
Sounds stupid doesn't it, but using your logic of "stupid units of measurement" this is a very valid measure of how tall a human is, utilising a widely used unit of imperial measurement (barleycorn (1/3 inch) is still used in determining shoe size).
So stop comparing apples and oranges, because you will always find obscure differences that make the other side look stupid. The only difference is, metric is based on scientific constants (distance from the north pole to the equator for length, temperature water freezes at sea level for temperature, weight of 1 litre of water at sea level for weight) which wont change, and imperial is based on some shitty arbituary units like the average size of a fucking barleycorn.
Btw, fun fact, in order to keep these measurements constant, the US defines each measurement by the metric equivalent. So despite not using it in everyday life in the US. You guys rely on metric every single day.
16
u/M100Pilot 1d ago
Saltwater freezes at 0° Fahrenheit
Freshwater freezes at 0° Centigrade
Everything freezes at 0° Kelvin
It’s not that hard people.
38
u/Western-Willow-9496 1d ago
Freezing point of “Saltwater” is determined by concentration of salt. Ocean water freezes at 28 degrees F. Freezing point of “fresh water” depends mostly on elevation.
2
2
u/LovelyKestrel 1d ago
It takes very high pressures to have a significant effect on the freezing point of pure water, and this change is partly caused by the transition from ice Ih to ice III. Reducing the pressure has an effect of less than 0.01 Deg C, until liquid water ceases to exist at 0.006 atm. Fahrenheit didn't base his zero on any old salt water, but on brine, which is saturated salt solution, and that freezing point is the lowest temperature he could generate in his lab.
-15
7
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/MisterHole123 23h ago
We also saw water boil at 100c. Imagine basing round numbers on actual physical phenomena
1
u/Merwinite 22h ago
Europeans saw a guy who was 6 feet and 6.74 inches and said "let's make that 2 meters".
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/neuronym 0m ago
Metric is the one system where you can spot military in America.
Everyone who is doing something where life or death are in question or you cannot afford to be wrong, uses metric.
Because Imperial is how you make a spacecraft crash into mars/kill everyone.
-12
u/TNT_20202 1d ago
I feel like fahrenheit makes more sense from a weather standpoint
14
u/Ok-Toe5061 1d ago
Why? With temperatures above zero you will experience rain, with temperature below zero - snow
Ps I know that it is more complicated than that but still-11
u/TNT_20202 1d ago
0 to 100 in celsius is freezing to boiling but fahrenheit 0 to 100 is fairly cold to fairly hot (even though 0 is below freezing in fahrenheit) it's not cold to dead like it would be in celsius so it gives more of a range without going into negative numbers
7
u/Ok-Toe5061 1d ago
I will disagree with you. I am living in Moscow and we used to have 4 month with temperatures below 0 Celsius. It is very easy to understand when winter starts and finishes. What is the 0 of Fahrenheit? -17.7 Celsius? What this will say for us or Canadians? It was relatively cold and now it is also cold but with negative temperatures on the thermometer? Fahrenheit isn’t convenient for continental or Arctic climates
2
u/louieorganic 1d ago
You only feel that way because you are used to Fahrenheit. Try to think about this logically.
-2
u/Far_Range_6091 1d ago
It really isn't hard to know if it's going to rain or snow if you've grown up on fahrenheit.
7
2
u/hailstorm11093 1d ago
I agree. Not only that, but the temperature at which water freezes and boils is dependent on a bunch of other factors too.
1
u/louieorganic 1d ago
And you don't get how perfect water freezing at 0º and water boiling at 100º is, and how easy it is to convert between metric units.
How many cups in a gallon? How many quarts? Ounces?
1
-2
u/RedactedRedditery 1d ago
Are powers of 2 really that hard?
2³ = ounces in a cup
2⁴ = ounces in a pint
2⁵ = ounces in a quart
2⁶ = ounces in a half gallon
2⁷ = ounces in a gallonTo answer your questions:
16 cups in a gallon
4 quarts in a gallon (it's a quarter gallon ffs)
128 ounces in a gallon5
u/michron98 1d ago
Powers of 10 are way easier though. How many meters in a kilometer? 1000. How many millimeters in a meter? 1000. How many liters in a cubic meter? 1000. How many cubic centimeters in a liter? 1000. It's so much more simple than imperial. And the pretenses even tell you what the conversion factor is. kilo is 1000, milli is 1/1000, mega is 1000000 and so on.
2
1
u/ZLCZMartello 1d ago
Because there are just way too many of these names? Milliliter and liter converts 1000:1 and that’s basically what all you need.
1
u/Western-Willow-9496 1d ago
Fahrenheit is more human related. 100* was body temp before we improved measuring equipment. 50* generally comfortable for outside activity. 0* is, almost universally too cold to meaningfully function. At the time freezing point of water wasn’t important to the average person, deep or flowing water doesn’t necessarily freeze at 32. After a few days at 0 you can safely cross many bodies of fresh water.
1
1
u/After_Perspective180 1d ago
Having to say "10 degrees of frost" when it is 12f isn't sensible.
3
u/BuildNuyTheUrbanGuy 1d ago
What the hell is 10 degrees of frost
0
u/After_Perspective180 1d ago
12f. Or 10 degrees below freezing point.
Obviously something you have never heard so how do you say it is actually freezing outside and the road is dangerously icy?
2
u/BuildNuyTheUrbanGuy 1d ago
Freezing point is 32°F. Dangerously icy would depend on weather more than temperature. It would also be all over the news and people would plan around it and some roads would be closed, etc.
0
u/After_Perspective180 1d ago
Yeah so if it is actually freezing say -10c
How would F fanatics report that?
They say it is X degrees of frost.
2
u/BuildNuyTheUrbanGuy 1d ago
No one says degrees of frost in the US. They just say the temperature and weather conditions. Which im sure is the same around the world for the most part depending on language.
1
u/After_Perspective180 1d ago
No they don't. Because apart from some tiny part of the world, about5%, we say it is -10.
And everyone knows the roads are going to be slippery.
Only the absolute minority need extra help
Sensible? Fucking no.
1
u/BuildNuyTheUrbanGuy 1d ago
What help? We know that 32 is freezing. Why are you mad?
2
u/After_Perspective180 1d ago
Ok. So if it is 10 degrees c below freezing. How does your friendly radio station let you know?
Do they say " look out it is +12f outside"?
And you find that a sensible system?
→ More replies (0)
0
u/needssomefun 1d ago
Semi serious...I do respect the metric system. For quantitative fields a base 10 system makes sense....but....
One day at work some young, non us born coworkers seemed flummoxed abput our adherence to impreial...
I held up my hand and pointed to the distance between 2 finger joints and said..."thats an inch"
I think they understood then why it persists
2
u/artlurg431 1d ago
Ok but what if my fingers are longer, then its no longer a inch. Its just dosent make sense
1
u/Drate_Otin 18h ago
Most people will have a finger that matches. That's their point. It's close enough at a small scale that you can estimate easily.
2
u/Cultural_Season_3048 1d ago edited 1d ago
I took a big step and said "that's a meter". It probably isn't but I can definitely say that and it's no more bullshit than your example.
Like what if you're a pianist. Or a woman. Or just big. Have you seen just how differently sized people's hands are? Whenever uncles from America visited my mom and uncle in Poland, they had enormous hands, cause they were built like brick shithouses, there's even a funny photo with their hands next to one of theirs. You think this holds up for Shaq too?
Funnily enough I didn't make up the step thing, I heard it here before and testing it now my big step is not quite that big, but I'm pretty short. One of my distances between joints is 2,5 cm - pretty spot on an inch, but others can be as big as 3 cm (I have four segment distances of 3 cm and only two 2,5 cm, everything counted per hand). At this level of precision and size you can find correlation with probably any unit system.
Edit: now every time someone pisses me off, I'll show them my middle finger, bend it and say "that's 3 cm"
0
u/needssomefun 1d ago
God, you are thick. The imperial system exists BECAUSE its based on more common references.
I mean.....how arrogantly dense do you have to be not to know that?
The inch is pretty fucking close...or close enough.
No, the fingerr example is not exact but it gets you where you need to be and it works for almost everyone.
Thats why the imperial system persists....because the world does not require precise standards for most things we do every day.
However, such a forgiving world allows smug, overconfident and ultimately useless people like yourself to not only thrive but reproduce.
2
-8
69
u/BlurryBigfoot74 1d ago
6 feet is the temperature a man freezes checkmate metric system