The Metric System

[KillerGremlin]

Education moves really slow. That's where the problem lies. I was taught both the Metric and Imperial ways to measure units during my time at school. It is mandatory, at least for anything Biology, Chemistry, or Physics related, to become a wizard (so much cooler than whiz) of the metric system. So someday when the old generation is dead and gone we will see an America that embraces the Metric system as the primary was to measure things. We might even see it in our lifetime, at the least the front end of the movement! Right now you have a bunch of old farts clashing with a new wave, and as nice as it would be to put all the old people on an island where they can use the Imperial system and we can use the Metric system...it is inhumane and cruel. Although isn't Florida like an island for old people?

What is really a mind fuck is when you throw non-Metric, non-Imperial units into the mix: Kelvin for temperature, Cubic Meters for volume, and Joules instead of Calories for energy.

So actually, the Metric System is outdated and the current science field uses the updated International System of Units. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interna...ystem_of_Units

[manasecret]

Originally Posted by KillerGremlin

What is really a mind fuck is when you throw non-Metric, non-Imperial units into the mix: Kelvin for temperature, Cubic Meters for volume, and Joules instead of Calories for energy. [/url]

This is kind of where units in engineering get fun. You can derive many units into the form of something else. For example, an Ampere is actually how much charge passes a given space per second -- C/s, or Coulombs per second. Deriving an amp down to C/s gives you a much more visceral feeling of what an amp really is. It's like a speedometer, but for electric charge.

Another plus of messing with units is that you can often derive an equation that solves for some variable given some other variables, by just figuring out where the units should go. Units give you a nice check to make sure your calculation didn't fuck up somewhere.

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by KillerGremlin

Education moves really slow.

That's an interesting point I hadn't thought of. It reminds me of a lecture series I heard about American education where the lecturer (I forget his name) made the point that American education has not changed in nearly 30 years. The content has changed, yes, but the methods why which we educate and test (testing should be eradicated in a perfect world) have not. In fact, you could say we have "doubled down" on old system and continuously ignored advancements in understanding how people learn. This is why I find teaching in the private world to be so rewarding: I get to continually experiment with new methods of knowledge transfer and evaluation.

If a private company did not evolve in 30 years, would we expect them to be able to compete? No. So why would we expect our children to compete scholastically, and change as the world changes?

Is on topic or an I being tangential?