What are some reasons the SI system uses metric unites and not the English system used in the US?

Answer 1

Advantages of switching. It would lead to more uniformity across the globe (of course everyone else could switch). We would not have to listen to pompous Europeans saying how great their system is (of course they would just find something else annoying to say). Disadvantages We would have to require many people to start using a system they are completely unfamiliar with. I am going to have to stick with the pompous European thing.

Answer 2

Basically because metric is much easier to use and understand.

1000 milligrams is 1 gram, 1000 grams is one kilogram.

1000 millimetres is 1 metre, 1000 metres is one kilometre.

Simple.

16 ounces is 1 pound, 14 pounds is 1 stone, 112 pounds is1 hundredweight ( how does that work?)

12 inches is one foot, 3 feet is one yard, 1760 yards is one mile.

There is no consistency in the English system.

And then units with the same name have different values: ounces used to weigh sugar are different from ounces used to weigh gold, in the UK there are 20 fluid ounces to a pint but in the USA there are only 16, and the fluid ounces themselves are different sizes in the UK and USA. Up until 1959 the US inch was longer than the UK inch, and by extension so were the foot, yard, and mile.

Metric is the same everytime and everywhere.

Because metric moves in thousands, the calculations can be done easily in base ten. We count in base ten almost all common maths is done in base ten, so manipulating metric measurements is easy. The English system uses base 12, 3,1760, 14, 16, 20; there is no pattern, no consistency, and because the units are different sizes for different people the scope for confusion is limitless. NASA now uses only contractors using metric because it lost craft over confusion using English units.

Metric is easier, simpler, and the same everywhere. This makes it much better suited to form the base of the international standard.

Answer 3

The real question should be why the US is still clinging on to an outdated system that is not fit for purpose?

There are several advantages to the SI system. Some of them are:

1. They are internationally agreed as standard. Not like a gallon which can mean one amount in the US and another in the UK.

2. Orders of magnitude for the same measure are related by simple decimal conversions (factors or multiples of ten) and only a handful of prefices are required (although there are a lot more). By way of contrast, the Imperial system uses:

• 2 pints in a quart
• 3 feet in a yard
• 4 quarts in a gallon
• 6 feet in a fathom
• 8 furlongs in a mile
• 9 square feet in a square yard
• 12 inches in a foot
• 14 pounds in a stone
• 16 ounces in a pound

and so on and on and on. The decimal structure also makes it very simple to use scientific notation for small and large quantities.

3. It is used by most people in the world. The main recalcitrant countries are USA, Liberia and Myanmar. Even in the US, scientists normally use SI. When they don't they have disasters like the one that trashed NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter!

4. There are many simple relations from measures for one characteristics to another. For example, the SI unit of length is 1 metre. 100 square metres = 1 are, the unit for area. 1 cubic metre = 1000 litres, the unit for volume. The force required to accelerate a mass of 1 kilogram by 1 metre per second2 = 1 Newton.

Answer 4

That's an excellent question. It should be answered by our elected representatives

to the federal government. My own opinion is that it's because the US has become,

on the whole, a nation of shortsighted, soft chauvinists. I could be wrong.

Answer 5

It's because all other countries use the metric system. It's also easier to understand since it is based on multiples of 10.