Every Day Is Special: December 23 – Metric Conversion Day in the U.S.A.

Posted on December 23, 2019

Did you know that, by law, the metric system is the preferred system of measurement in the United States? That's why all our forecasts are given in Celsius, our road signs in kilometers, and our grocery store scales in grams.

Oh - wait! - That's the rest of the world! None of that is true of the U.S.!

And yet...

In July of 1866, the Metric Act was passed in the U.S. Congress; it legally recognized the metric system in the nation.

In May of 1875, the U.S. was one of 17 nations that signed the Metric Convention.

In April of 1893, the Mendenhall Order was issued to declare the meter and the kilogram as the fundamental standards of length and mass measurement in the United States.

And on this date in 1975, the metric system was formally designated as the preferred standard of measurement in the nation.

We in the U.S. have two liter bottles of soda (liters are a metric unit); our rulers and yardsticks and tape measures have centimeters and meters as well as inches, feet, and yards; photographic equipment, cars, and medicines routinely use the metric system; Americans involved in science and industry almost always use the metric system to be consistent with the scientists and industries around the world.

Actually, it's surprising that the United States is the ONLY developed nation that still doesn't use the metric system as its predominant system! Especially given the fact that the U.S. has been declaring the metric system as the bees' knees for more than 150 years.

But we are still mostly mired in the old-timey system with all of its complexity, unfriendly numbers, and even confusing doubling up of meanings for the measurement word "ounce."

Confusing?

Yep! For example: The metric system has one unit for volume - the liter - and then all the same prefixes used with other units (such as centi- and kilo-). All conversions between units are in multiples of tens.

In contrast, the imperial system has LOTS of different volume units, and the numbers used in conversions are varied - except none are as easy to multiply as 10 or multiples of 10! Take a peek:

3 teaspoons = 1 Tablespoon

16 Tablespoons = 1 cup

8 ounces = 1 cup

(not to be confused with 16 ounces = 1 pound!!)

2 cups = 1 pint

2 pints = 1 quart

4 quarts = 1 gallon

Sadly, NASA lost a very expensive spacecraft because of the fact
that the U.S. still uses two systems of measurement. JPL (like all or
most science-based organizations) used the metric system, but the
company that built the spacecraft (Lockheed) used the imperial or
"English" system!

So the spacecraft was lost in translation.
Or maybe lost because of lack of translation!

I'm pretty sure Americans would find math and science easier if we converted whole-heartedly to the metric system, like the entire rest of the world and adults in many professions! It would save money, too, in the long run!