# Metric System **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 14, 2005, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system/321607 "2005-09-14T15:56:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system/321607/81 "2005-09-15T20:55:44Z")
Interestingly, the same people who brought you the metric system (the French revolutionary government, post 1789) tried to do just what **Plynck** mentions, namely metricize time. The day would be divided, from midnight to midnight, into 10 periods, each of which would in turn be divided into 10 subperiods, and so on, until you attained the smallest measurable increment of time. Each 30-day month would be divided into three ten-day periods, while the year would have 12 30-day months, with five or six intercalary festival days to make up the difference between that and the solar year. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system/321607/82 "2005-09-15T21:39:07Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The best we can do is to pick one unit of time and use that, and let days and years be whatever they are. And this is more or less what we do. We take the second as the metric unit of time (originally based on the day, of course, but it’s now defined in terms of a resonance of a particular atom, and the day is considered a measured quantity), and use that unit for everything metric. And then we have these other two units, the day and the year, that we’re just stuck with regardless. You know, just a couple of nudges, and a little bit of despin, and we could fix it so a year is exactly 360 days (a nice, readily devisable number) and a day is 86400 seconds (another nicely divisible number), without having to muck about with changing changing any time units or recalibrating chronographs. And we could keep engineers and physicists employed for decades figuring out how to effect the change in orbit without destroying all life on Earth. I’d suggest that some constant velocity swinging motors on the Moon should serve as the orbital tug, while extending large masses out on counterbalancing beanstalks will serve to reduce the Earth’s rotational velocity. Yes, it’s yet another modest proposal from your friends at the National Council on Brilliantly Preposterous Ideas. Please, hold your applause until after my presentation on how to transmute raw sewage into precious stones using only WD-40, rubber bands, and surplus volumes of Congressional Quarterly. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system/321607/83 "2005-09-15T23:20:32Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > …but a chain is 22’ [yards] (assuming you’re talking about what I think you mean) Oops. I said chain, I meant rod. Get those mixed up all the time. 4 rods to a chain, and for some reason I always think it’s the other way 'round. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system/321607/84 "2005-09-16T14:48:14Z")
> [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > You know, just a couple of nudges, and a little bit of despin, and we could fix it so a year is exactly 360 days… When I was a child, I thought we should make all 12 months exactly 30 days, and then lump the leftover 5-1/4 (roughly) days at the end (or beginning) of each year into a huge international party. Change the week to ten days with a three day weekend (you now have 30% of your days off work instead of 28.28%) and we’ve got exactly three weeks per month, 36 per year. The year-end party isn’t part of a week at all. Today, the average person works 5 days per week, 50 days per year: 250 days. Under the new system, you’d work 7 days per week, 36 weeks per year: 252 days. The extra two days could be floating holidays. EVERY weekend is a three-day weekend. Now that I look back on that idea, I like it even more than I did back then. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system/321607/85 "2005-09-16T19:15:18Z")
Aha! So there are ten chains in a furlong! I just _knew_ that 10 had to show up as a conversion factor somewhere in the customary system! Prior to this, the best I could do was ten acres in a square furlong. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system/321607/86 "2005-09-16T20:14:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Aha! So there are ten chains in a furlong! I just _knew_ that 10 had to show up as a conversion factor somewhere in the customary system! Is there any number (within reason) that _doesn’t_ crop up? Plus, this measurement of 10 chains is purely a practical one, not something that came about through a desire for decimal simplicity. (And it’s less convenient when it’s measured as 40 rods!) ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system/321607/87 "2005-09-16T21:11:44Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > Is there any number (within reason) that _doesn’t_ crop up? 2 - cups in a pint, pints in a quart 3 - feet in a yard, miles in a league 4 - quarts in a gallon, rods in a yard, pecks in a bushel, etc, etc, etc 5 6 - feet in a fathom 7 8 - furlongs in a mile, fl. ounces in a cup 9 10 - chains in a furlong 11 12 - inches in a foot 13 14 - pounds in a stone 15 16 - ounces in a pound There’s a few higher ones, but they get pretty sparse. I can’t think of any odd conversion factors higher than 3, unless we go with days of the week or square feet in a square yard, or other things that seem like cheating to me. Surely I’m missing some, though. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system/321607/88 "2005-09-16T22:31:51Z")
I’m determined to find a ‘five’ and a ‘seven’, at least! Gimme time… ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system/321607/89 "2005-09-16T22:35:46Z")
One clove = seven pounds One firkin = nine gallons Two down, a handful to go… ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system/321607/90 "2005-09-16T22:54:58Z")
Anyone remember the comedy routine set in ancient Rome with one merchant trying to convince another to switch to the decimal system instead of using I, V, L and so on? “Enough! I shall never understand this if I live to be C!” ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2005, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system/321607/91 "2005-09-17T01:08:35Z")
A pint’s a pound the world around. See, we English system people have metric (non-SI metric) system, too. ---
**Author:** ![baloo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@baloo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/baloo)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2005, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system/321607/92 "2005-09-17T01:50:06Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > Weight is a force and force should be expressed in Newtons. > > The Kilogram is a unit of mass. > > Oddly enough, pounds are correctly used in the “old system”; they are units of force. AND > But Jim Imperial who weighs 180 lbs on Earth does indeed weigh 30 lbs on the moon The imperical weight does not vary. The use of pounds as a force is defined as the weight of a one-pound mass where the accelleration is 9.8 m per s per s. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2005, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system/321607/93 "2005-09-17T05:14:32Z")
> [@Foaming Cleanser](#): > > The Celsius scale is too course a measurement, anyway. There’s too big a difference over one degree, let alone five. I would agree. Unbeknownst to many, the Fahrenheit scale has almost twice the resolution as the Celsius scale for a given number of significant digits. Knowing this can come in handy in certain situations. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2005, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system/321607/94 "2005-09-17T06:48:37Z")
‘Celsius is too coarse’? Assuming you’re talking about everyday usage, I’d say that Farenheit is too fine. The weather can be predicted accurately to a specific degree on the Celsius scale, but only to ‘high sixties’ or similar in Farenheit. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2005, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system/321607/95 "2005-09-17T10:59:55Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > A pint’s a pound the world around. See, we English system people have metric (non-SI metric) system, too. Is that a US pint or a British pint? Here we say, or used to say, “a pint of water, a pound and a quarter”. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system/321607/96 "2005-09-17T17:33:32Z")
> [@](#): > > One firkin = nine gallons There’s also nine hands in a yard. > [@](#): > > I can’t think of any odd conversion factors higher than 3, unless we go with days of the week or square feet in a square yard, or other things that seem like cheating to me. Surely I’m missing some, though. How about 231 cubic inches in a gallon? Oh, and if we want to fill in that 5 gap, there’s probably something in the Imperial liquid measures. Certainly, there are 5 American quarts in an Imperial gallon, but that seems cheating. Cups in a quart, perhaps? And there are 11 fathoms in a chain, too. And should we count a baker’s dozen? ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2005, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system/321607/97 "2005-09-17T17:52:17Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > To go from Thingies to miles I’m going to have to break out the calculator (32x12x5280? Yuck). Just a nitpick, but if you’re going from Thingies to Miles, you would want to do 32/12/5280. Your formula is for going from Miles to Thingies. 😉 When I did FAA Ground School, we had what our teacher refered to as the “Dummy Check” where you’d look at the result of whatever calculation and ask yourself if it made sense on it’s own. ie: If your Cessna 172 is crusing along at Mach 3, you fudged a number somewhere. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system/321607.md?page=4)