What is the difference in the metric system and what the US uses?

Answer 1

The rest of the world uses the metric system. The United States uses an ancient British system. In the Metric System everything is done on the basis of 10 or a multiple of 10. The basic unit of measurement of length is the meter. A kilometer is 1,000 meters. In weight, the basic unit is a kilogram, and a gram is 1/1,000 of a kilogram. In volume a milliliter is 1/1,000 of a liter. And in the United States, soft drinks have gone over to 2 liter bottles. With the system in the United States a mile is 5,280 feet, 1760 yards, or 320 rods. A rod is 16.5 feet. A yard is 3 feet. A foot is 12 inches. A cup is 8 ounces, a pint 16 ounces, a quart 32 ounces, and a gallon 128 ounces. A square mile is 640 acres. While a square kilometer is 100 hectares.

Tremendous resistance exists to using the metric system in the United States. Still, it keeps working its way into our lives. Our electrical system with watts, volts, and kilowatt hours are all metric. Many of our car parts are the same as those used in Europe and Japan. If American Manufacturers want to sell cars outside of the United States, their cars must be built using metric parts. Soon mechanics will only use tools in metric sizes. (Some places will always have tools to fix old cars.) In order to cooperate with our NATO allies, the military has gone over to metric.

So the system used in the United States is both a hold over and the Metric system.