# Has anybody ever tried metric time measurement? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 10, 2000, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-tried-metric-time-measurement/10233 "2000-04-10T20:11:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![m3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6f9a4e/32.png) [@m3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/m3)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2000, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-tried-metric-time-measurement/10233/1 "2000-04-10T20:11:00Z")
Obviously, measuring the time in centidays would be a bit annoying. I can see why the hours,days,years system works fine for most of us. But since we might one day get off of this planet and since we already have devoted significant effort to studying what happens off of this planet, couldn’t we think of a more scientifically useful way of expressing time? Heck, just working in my physics class, I can remember how annoying it was to convert hours,minutes, and seconds. Look at lightyears for instance. It’s a large enough measuring stick, but why use the time it takes the earth to move around the sun? If anybody has any ideas for one (funny or not) or if they know of any already existing metric time system please post. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2000, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-tried-metric-time-measurement/10233/2 "2000-04-10T20:22:00Z")
The French tried it. Here’s what Cecil wrote about it: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_125.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_125.html) ---
**Author:** ![Squee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@Squee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squee)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2000, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-tried-metric-time-measurement/10233/3 "2000-04-10T20:26:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Look at **lightyears** for instance. It’s a large enough measuring stick, but why use the time it takes the earth to move around the sun? A lightyear is a measure of distance. More precisely, the distance light would travel in one year, or aproximately 9.46E12 kilometers. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2000, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-tried-metric-time-measurement/10233/4 "2000-04-10T20:30:00Z")
A radio station I worked at in the late '70s used “metric time” for a while. It was really a joke. This was right when the big push to metrify the US had started and someone at our station had decided that all of us DJs had to start giving the temperature and the like in metric. We sat down and came up with a metric time system. There were 100 units in the day. Noon was 50, 6am was 25, 6pm was 75 and so on. 1 centi-day was just under 15 minutes. (14 minutes and 24 seconds for those of you who care.) For a while we gave reports like “…the time is now 62 and its a warm 27 degrees outside…” The station stayed metric for about two weeks. * * * “Sometimes I think the web is just a big plot to keep people like me away from normal society.” — Dilbert ---
**Author:** ![m3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6f9a4e/32.png) [@m3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/m3)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2000, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-tried-metric-time-measurement/10233/5 "2000-04-10T20:31:00Z")
Thanks BobT Yup, Squee, that’s why I called it a measuring stick. The clincher is, how long do we wait for light to travel before we decide it’s a good unit of length? ---
**Author:** ![Squee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@Squee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squee)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2000, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-tried-metric-time-measurement/10233/6 "2000-04-10T20:35:00Z")
Sorry, **M3** , I thought you were implying that it took one lightyear for the earth to travel around the sun. My apologies. 🙂 * * * “Penises don’t belong in the mouth, girls and boys. You’ve got the wrong hole there. Just like you wouldn’t shove pizza up your nose.” -From the **Brother Jed** flyer- ---
**Author:** ![sdimbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sdimbert/32/20204_2.png) [@sdimbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sdimbert)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2000, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-tried-metric-time-measurement/10233/7 "2000-04-10T20:46:00Z")
Quote from **tanstaafl** > [@](#): > > This was right when the big push to metrify the US had started Sorry - this doesn’t really speak to the OP, but remember back in the mid-80’s when they started to put up road-side distance signs in kilometers and people **shot them down**?!?! What a country! PS - **Tanstaafl** , which did you like more, _Stranger_ or _Time Enough_? ---
**Author:** ![sethdallob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@sethdallob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sethdallob)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2000, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-tried-metric-time-measurement/10233/8 "2000-04-10T20:57:00Z")
Swatch came out with a 1000-unit based time system last year… [http://www.swatch.com/internettime/fs\_time.html](http://www.swatch.com/internettime/fs_time.html) ---
**Author:** ![Arjuna34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2000, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-tried-metric-time-measurement/10233/9 "2000-04-11T00:18:00Z")
I use metric time quite often- the SI unit of time is the “second”. Just apply your favorite metric prefix- nanosecond, microsecond, etc., which I use daily in engineering work. Kiloseconds comes up less frequently, but is used. Metric time isn’t very useful for things tied to the calendar, though- days, weeks, months, etc. are much better. A revamping of our calendar to a “metric” calendar isn’t easy, since the earth day and year aren’t related, and are constantly changing. Arjuna34 ---
**Author:** ![tony1234](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@tony1234](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tony1234)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2000, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-tried-metric-time-measurement/10233/10 "2000-04-11T00:43:00Z")
A related question, but probably not worthy of its own thread is: Is the length of a second “arbitrary” in the sense being directly related to reasonably salient physical constant? Or is it just some arbitraty number of vibrations of some atom or another? And, while we are at it, if the answer is no, what would be a good basic unit of time? Is there a smallest unit of time 9which is physically manifested) according to the best current theories? tony1234 ---
**Author:** ![m3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6f9a4e/32.png) [@m3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/m3)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2000, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-tried-metric-time-measurement/10233/11 "2000-04-11T05:08:00Z")
Seconds are arbitrary. I’m guessing it probably has some relationship with Babylonians and their base 60 numeral system. I don’t think there’s a quanta of time. Maybe the frequency of elctromagnetic radiation from some element could be used (like in atomic clocks).The time for one full wavelength could be the basic unit. Any other ideas? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2000, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-tried-metric-time-measurement/10233/12 "2000-04-11T05:29:00Z")
Which is, mas o menos, what they do. An atom of a particular isotope of cesium vibrates a certain number of billions of times per second; so they defined the second as the duration of that many billions of vibrations of a cesium atom. ---
**Author:** ![m3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6f9a4e/32.png) [@m3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/m3)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2000, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-tried-metric-time-measurement/10233/13 "2000-04-11T07:58:00Z")
“a certain number of billions”? Doesn’t sound like any metric system I’ve heard of. Isn’t a mile a “certain number of” thousands of feet? Now if they’d defined the second as exactly 1 billion vibrations, then we’d be talking. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2000, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-tried-metric-time-measurement/10233/14 "2000-04-11T09:32:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Obviously, measuring the time in centidays would be a bit > annoying. I can see why the hours,days,years system works > fine for most of us. ??Huh?? It does??? You do??? : :rolleyes:: [rant] I **hate** hms! Stupid $%^#!!! 60s! Idiotic AM and PM! I “invented” millidays in 1981, not knowing one way or the other if people before me had already done so. 1. Quick! Subtract NOW from Wednesday April 19 at 8:45 PM! Yeah, of course you can, but metric is so much easier. Can’t imagine why you’d want to? Two words: payroll spreadsheet. 2. My watch says NOW is **102.0519** ; your combo of watch+calendar says “ **4/11/2000 at 7:25:06 AM** ”. (and never mind that I didn’t work it out precisely, conversion is not the point!). That’s one ugly string of characters for expressing a simple concept! 3. With a metric time unit, we would have a logical metric velocity unit as well, the vel (1km/md, or 1000 km/day), and md/km (time elapsed over distance) is just the reciprocal of the vel. The decivel makes a nice unit for automobile speeds, with each unit equal to a bit more than 4 mph. Drive 3 in school zones, 7 in town, 12 on two-lane highways, 20 on the interstate. 4. It sounds awkward and foreign to you because you don’t think in those terms yet. It is only familiarity that makes hours, minutes, and seconds “just fine for most of us”, but that logic can be used to praise shillings. [/rant] * * * Disable Similes in this Post ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2000, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-tried-metric-time-measurement/10233/15 "2000-04-11T09:39:00Z")
The closest I’ve seen to metric time is when I do costings for work. It might be that when I’ve broken a task down to parts that I’ll get say 1hour 10 mins to remove panels + 35 mins to pull out the parts that need replacing + 40 mins to fit the new + 30 mins to refit panels etc. Adding that lot up in minutes is a pain, try imagining a job with 30 guys on it. By metricating the minutes ,eg 45 mins=0.75, life gets much easier and since cost is done in base 10 it all ties up quite nicely.The job is priced up in man hours. ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2000, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-tried-metric-time-measurement/10233/16 "2000-04-11T12:22:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by AHunter3: > **[rant] 1) Quick! Subtract NOW from Wednesday April 19 at 8:45 PM! Yeah, of course you can, but metric is so much easier. Can’t imagine why you’d want to? Two words: payroll spreadsheet.** Two more words: macro, dumshit. O, crap, I left the frigging [/rant] mode on from your quote. Anyway, the best thing to do would be to convert to base sixty. We wouldn’t have to come up with fifty more (unique) digits–just do it like the babylonians, and use base 10 digits. Like we do with time and angle measurements. * * * rocks ---
**Author:** ![InutilisVisEst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d2c977/32.png) [@InutilisVisEst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InutilisVisEst)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2000, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-tried-metric-time-measurement/10233/17 "2000-04-11T13:52:00Z")
Many people have made a case for using a duodecimal system instead of our current decimal system. As with time and compasses, it’s convenient to have a base with so many factors. A switch to base-12 would move our current measurements in line with time units rather than the OP’s suggestion of the other way around. It’s interesting that sdimbert mentioned Heinlein stories. In one of Heinlein’s timelines, the characters use a base-60 numbering system, and act as if that’s just the only logical way to do it. Of course, if we’d evolved with 12 fingers we’d already use a duodecimal system… * * * I lead a boring life of relative unimportance. Really. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2000, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-tried-metric-time-measurement/10233/18 "2000-04-11T14:10:00Z")
The biggest problem with metric time is that you can’t evenly divide things in a way that makes any sense. For instance, if you used the year as a unit (ignoring the fact that the length of the year is not absolutely precise), you can use deciyear for the equivalent of a month, but a centiyear is just over three and a half days and a milliyear is about a third of a day. Neither unit bears any real relation to the 24-hour (approx.) period we use to mark a day. Same thing with using the day. A kiloday is nearly three years, and bears no relation to the calendar. You could break the day into 10 units instead of 24 hours, but you can’t set up a consistent metric system that accounts for both days and years. And then when you factor in leap years . . . It gets messy. * * * “What we have here is failure to communicate.” – Strother Martin, anticipating the Internet. [www.sff.net/people/rothman](http://www.sff.net/people/rothman) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2000, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-tried-metric-time-measurement/10233/19 "2000-04-11T14:13:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by InutilisVisEst: > \*\*It’s interesting that sdimbert mentioned Heinlein stories. In one of Heinlein’s timelines, the characters use a base-60 numbering system… > \*\* Anyone besides me notice how much _fun_ that is to say? “Heinliein’s Timelines.” “Heinliein’s Timelines!” _“Heinliein’s Timelines!!.”_ _ **"Heinliein’s Timelines!!!"** _ Heinliein’sTimelines Heinliein’sTimelines Heinliein’sTimelines Heinliein’sTimelines Heinliein’sTimelines Heinliein’sTimelines Heinliein’sTimelines Heinliein’sTimelines Heinliein’sTimelines ! (I put in some spaces in the above so the thread doesn’t slop over to the right of the screen.) [Note: This message has been edited by manhattan] ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2000, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-tried-metric-time-measurement/10233/20 "2000-04-11T14:48:00Z")
And we all know what the scientific definition of Heinlein is, right? It’s the shortest distance between two Heinpoints. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anybody-ever-tried-metric-time-measurement/10233.md?page=2)