Pointless bureaucracy for its own sake?

[grober]

I think the whole thread has political undertones?!

From post 2 onwards in this thread --lots of posts now in the general section with inevitable "political undertones" trying to slip under the radar -----Ready steady queue--- being a classic example.
Returning even in part to an intrinsically inferior imperial system of measurement merely for the sake of political symbolism seems pointless to me.

WHICH IS BETTER: METRIC OR IMPERIAL?

Besides which in our new "global Britain "where we are going to do business with the rest of the world----what system do they use?

Then there's the US for the extra terrestrial arguement

Mars Probe Lost Due to Simple Math Error

NASA lost its $125-million Mars Climate Orbiter because spacecraft engineers failed to convert from English to metric measurements when exchanging vital data before the craft was launched, space agency officials said Thursday.

www.latimes.com

 

[Bellow]

Yes , but is that thread Metric...or Imperial ?

Or not worth a whit(worth)?

 

[Dippo]

Can we still say 600 psi punch?

 

[Dryce]

Returning even in part to an intrinsically inferior imperial system of measurement merely for the sake of political symbolism seems pointless to me.

WHICH IS BETTER: METRIC OR IMPERIAL?

Besides which in our new "global Britain "where we are going to do business with the rest of the world----what system do they use?

But then we have media who like using farenheit for temperature (presimably it gives bigger numbers when it's hot), buses and football pitches for length, homes for energy, and we still seem to use mpg for fuel consumption.

As regards systems .... well Europe and Asia IME use kg and km, US uses lbs and feet, and the UK uses a mix of litres, pints, miles, and metres and feet.

If I was setting policy I'd be looking at shifting the UK more to metric and chipping away at the remaining imperial measures - maybe leaving just pints in pubs and miles on road signs because they'd be too much of a psychological hassle to change.

 

[GeeJayW]

From an engineering viewpoint, metric is much better than the imperial measurement system.

If the EU want us to use UK instead of GB on our vehicles when driven in the EU, then that’s what we should do. I‘m not seeing this as a ditch to die in to be honest.

 

[190]

Oh no! The willy wavers will have to quote their torque in lb.ft!

I'm afraid I still think in ftlbs for torque whether it's engine output or reading a torque wrench because the numbers instantly mean something to me. The same goes for thousands of an inch when it comes to valve clearances or spark plug gaps. I can instantly visualise 2 thou but I have to do a mental conversion to grasp what 0.05 mm is. I'm fine with the adoption of metric units in general but the transition is not helped by some absurdly stupid implementations. No matter how scientifically correct it might might be pascals or kilopascals as a unit for tyre pressures is just nonsense when they could use bars instead.

 

[Petrol Pete]

Not just the UK who has not 'Shaken off' the imperial system . Just about the whole world still uses it when referring to hydraulic/gas/plumbing/steam , etc etc fittings. Imperial is pretty universal and from my current experience is used way more than people think . Sheet metals and timber (sawn or planed) Included.

Not saying one is better than the other , but both have their uses. It could be argued that having 360' in a circle makes no sense....good luck trying to get that changed to metric , even some computer programs use Octal degrees (not metric) because it needs to count in bits. 16/32/64/128...........

Imperial is going now where any time soon.

Not sure I see any point in bringing it back into the grocery business though , have both .

 

[Rich764089]

Returning even in part to an intrinsically inferior imperial system of measurement merely for the sake of political symbolism

I agree with your point about threads going down political routes. Guilty as charged. But it's inevitable if the post is about political symbolism in the first place
I'll duck out now

 

[Deleted member 113659]

Best of both worlds IMO..

indeed. Can’t beat a 2.4m length of 4x2

Plasterboard is metric.
Some plywood is still imperial depending on its origin.
My dad taught me in imperial measurement and I still use it when working. However, when doing certain tasks metric is essential. Go try and design, plan, build and fit a kitchen in imperial.

 

[GeeJayW]

indeed. Can’t beat a 2.4m length of 4x2



My dad taught me in imperial measurement and I still use it when working. However, when doing certain tasks metric is essential. Go try and design, plan, build and fit a kitchen in imperial.

I went into a builders merchant a few decades ago and asked for some 4x2.

The guy said, “Sorry mate, its all gone metric, you want 100x50. How much do you want, it comes in 16ft lengths.”

 

[Deleted member 113659]

The guy said, “Sorry mate, its all gone metric, you want 100x50. How much do you want, it comes in 16ft lengths.”

And there’s another misnomer. It’s actually 95x45 (not 100x50)

Or, if it’s CLS it’s 89x38 but they still call it 4x2 even though it’s 3 1/2 x 1 1/2

Talk about making a simple thing sound complex.

 

[Rich764089]

indeed. Can’t beat a 2.4m length of 4x2

Plasterboard is metric.
Some plywood is still imperial depending on its origin.
My dad taught me in imperial measurement and I still use it when working. However, when doing certain tasks metric is essential. Go try and design, plan, build and fit a kitchen in imperial.

And some places sell 2.4m ply as 8ft so you have to be careful!

 

[m80]

Non-Structural Hardwood Plywood Sheet - 9 x 1220 x 2440mm | Wickes.co.uk

Non-Structural Hardwood Plywood Sheet - 9 x 1220 x 2440mm

www.wickes.co.uk

So a sheet of 8x4 is 2440 x 1220. I don't wonder why.
I suppose it's metric, sort of.

 

[Bellow]

indeed. Can’t beat a 2.4m length of 4x2

Plasterboard is metric.
Some plywood is still imperial depending on its origin.
My dad taught me in imperial measurement and I still use it when working. However, when doing certain tasks metric is essential. Go try and design, plan, build and fit a kitchen in imperial.

That's it. We can choose between two systems and choose the one that best suits the feel of what we're doing. We soon learn how to convert the one to the other when we have to (40 thou to the mil!).
What I do find tricky though is working on a vehicle that was built with both metric and USA Imperial fasteners. The speedo reading in mph and the odometer in km should have been warning enough I suppose.

 

[Deleted member 113659]

Non-Structural Hardwood Plywood Sheet - 9 x 1220 x 2440mm | Wickes.co.uk

Non-Structural Hardwood Plywood Sheet - 9 x 1220 x 2440mm

www.wickes.co.uk

So a sheet of 8x4 is 2440 x 1220. I don't wonder why.
I suppose it's metric, sort of.

That’s imperial sheet. 96”x48”

 

[Deleted member 126251]

I wonder how the Scots and Welsh would feel if they had to display an ENG plate?

GB is not a single nation’s plate....... I don’t get your point.

 

[Bellow]

Where it gets properly confusing is between lbs and kg. In imperial a lb is a force (a slug is mass) and in SI a kg is mass ( a Newton is the measure of force). If a calculation requires the mass be entered (eg inertia calcs) is it correct in lbs or kg? They only differ by a factor of 2.2 but one supposedly has gravity factored in (lb as a force) whereas the kg as a mass does not. But scales display in kg - measuring weight. Confused?

 

[GeeJayW]

Where it gets properly confusing is between lbs and kg. In imperial a lb is a force (a slug is mass) and in SI a kg is mass ( a Newton is the measure of force). If a calculation requires the mass be entered (eg inertia calcs) is it correct in lbs or kg? They only differ by a factor of 2.2 but one supposedly has gravity factored in (lb as a force) whereas the kg as a mass does not. But scales display in kg - measuring weight. Confused?

When I was involved with fuel injection manufacturing equipment calibration, we had some very expensive 1kg masses for setting up the gravimetric flow measurement systems during commissioning to correct for variations in local gravity.

 

[Williamwoo]

Anyone know why aircraft flight heights are always in feet rather than metres? I’ve always assumed that it is because to move from one to the other would be deemed too fraught with danger.

 

[Bellow]

When I was involved with fuel injection manufacturing equipment calibration, we had some very expensive 1kg masses for setting up the gravimetric flow measurement systems during commissioning to correct for variations in local gravity.

If you placed one of those 1kg calibrated masses on a weighing scale calibrated in pounds - did the scale show 2.2lbs or 0.22lbs?

Did you see that the definition of mass has changed from the old 1kg lump in Paris? It is now defined in terms of Plank's Constant and the Avogadro constant IIRC.