Do Americans understand celsius?

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States are responsible for the signs and they are free to post them in metric. But it is Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution that gives Congress the power to "fix the standard of weights and measures" for the nation. Only Congress really has the power to implement the metric system on a nation wide basis, and they haven't been doing their job.



They may have been around since 1970, but they weren't marketed until about 1978. The 2 liter plastic bottle was designed as a replacement for the 64 oz. glass bottles which were common all the way through the 1970s. Anyway I believe that 2 liter bottles were actually the result of the National Bureau of Standards decision to adopted the metric system at the 11th General Conference of Weights and Measures in 1964. I don't think the Metric Conversion Act had anything to do with it. Though it may have encouraged the bottlers adopt 2 liter bottles as the standard.

Why do you think that it is the government's job to force the metric system on us?

The Metric Conversion Act does not contain any authorization to force the metric system on us. Rather, it is concerned with a voluntary conversion. Even if Reagan had not closed that board, it could not have possibly forced us to switch to the metric system.

Would you prefer that government boards and agencies be free to ursurp powers for which they have no authority?



I guess you are free to believe whatever you want, no matter what the evidence shows.

The fact is that we had 2 liter bottles prior to Gerald Ford signing the Metric Conversion Act. We did have non-metric bottles for years, too. My recollection is that the non-metric bottles were quite common here for years after Ronald Reagan closed the one board in 1982.

I remember those old glass bottles quite well. They could be returned to the store for a refund of your deposit. I used to stack them in my garage and take them back to the store about once a year. I distinctly remember being surprised when I took a year's worth of bottles back to the store and found that they were no longer being used and could not be returned. And that was in the late 1980s or later, possibly as late as 1991 or 1992.

Because the Constitution says so. For the same reason it is the government's job to force a healthcare system on us. You can't have a universal anything, unless you force it on people. Because there are too many stupid people who will refuse to adopt, even if it is in their best interest. The metric system has been voluntary in the US since 1866, and it hasn't worked. If congress had fulfilled their constitutional obligations in 1866, we wouldn't even be having this debate now.



I'd like to see Congress do their job as outlined in Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution.



You are missing the point. The Metric Conversion Act. had nothing to do with that. 2 liter bottles were the direct result of the National Bureau of Standards decision to adopted the metric system in 1964. That's what put metric labels on products, well before the Metric Conversion Act. I learned the metric system in school in 1969.

Precisely where in the Constitution is the power to require the use of the metric system granted to the government?



I would like to see them do their job according to a strict reading of the Constitution rather than the absurdly expansive reading that they use to justify the use of power that they do not have.

Under a strict reading of the Constitution, there is nothing there that gives them any power to mandate a switch to the metric system.



Can you provide reputable citations to sources that say that the 2 liter bottles were introduced for that reason? I think not.

There are other possible reasons. Maybe they wanted to standardize their machinery to make the bottles so that they could use them anywhere in the world. Maybe it was a gamble on the way they expected the market to go.

One thing seems clear -- President Ronald Reagan did not derail the movement to switch to the Metric System.

While he did dissolve one board, that board was seen as being largely ineffectual and unnecessary. On the other hand, he signed into law an act that included an amendment to the Metric Conversion Act that strengthened the Act. That was hardly the logical action of someone wanting to derail the voluntary conversion to the metric system.

Section. 8.

The Congress shall have Power Tolay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;--And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.


Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution.

I wondered if that was the phrase you would try to use to support your case.

My understanding is that the phrase "fix the Standard of Weights and Measures" means defining standard weights and measures for the standards in use, not to determine which particular systems are to be used by the citizens. In other words, it is up to Congress to make sure that the standards are the same throughout the country instead of having each state or other jurisdiction defined their own standards.

In other words, they are authorized by the Constitution to set the standard for how much is a pound, how much is a quart, how much is a liter, how much is a kilogram, ... . It does not mean that they have the authority to tell you and me that we must use kilograms instead of pounds.

With the authorization of Congress, the Department of Commerce sets the actual standards for the Metric Systems as well as for English weights and measures.

Thus, a pound in New York City and a pound in California are the same. Similarly, a kilogram in Florida and a kilogram in Alaska will be the same.

Is there any legislation that makes fahrenheit the official measurement of temperature in the US?

As I understand it, the US has no official system of weights and measurements.

United States Customary Units are regulated by the NIST. However, there was no national regulation of all units until 1905. Before then, only weight was regulated nationally. Everything else was just allowed to handle itself. After 1905, there was an official national standard for everything.

United States Customary Units are regulated by the NIST. However, there was no national regulation of all units until 1905. Before then, only weight was regulated nationally. Everything else was just allowed to handle itself. After 1905, there was an official national standard for everything.

That's not what I was saying.

What I was saying is that the United States does not mandate that we use one system of weights and measures over all other systems of weights and measures. That we use miles, feet, quarts, pounds, ..., is because that is what we have traditionally used and are used to using rather than because Congress or some government bureaucrat decided that we must use that system.

You are correctly on point. In other parts of the world the government -mandates- the system of weights and measures that must be used for products to be marketed legally. In the U.S. NIST standardizes the weights and measures but, as yet, no system of weights and measures has been mandated by law.

ruveyn

If fahrenheit has not been mandated by law then why is using celsius considered to be unAmerican? If certain communities want to use celsius rather than fahrenheit then does opposing them run counter to democracy and freedom of consumer choice?

You are perfectly free to use celsius any time you wish. It is entirely up to you. There is nothing unAmerican about it.



Quite the contrary -- you are free to choose which to use.

For example, when I used to ride bicycles about 3,000 to 5,000 miles per year, I had my bicycle speedometer display the speed in km/hr in hopes that I would get a better intuitive feeling for the speed instead of having to do a mental conversion. That never really helped.

However, it did lead to a funny incident one day. I stopped at the bicycle shop one afternoon. One of the local racers casually walked over to my bicycle and pressed the display to see my maximum speed for the day. She did a double take and then gave me a funny look when she saw a speed of around 45-50. She didn't realize it was displaying kilometers per hour instead of miles per hour and that my peak speed was a quick sprint trying to beat a traffic signal.

The only times I actually hit speeds of 45 to 50 miles per hour was when drafting a vehicle, going downhill, or both.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry when a 3/4 inch diameter BMX spindle is incorrectly referred to as 19mm.

The reluctance to use metric in the US resulted in a decision to use an imperial size bearing with an outside diameter of 1 5/8 inch and an inside diameter of 3/4 inch as the industry standard for the bottom bracket of a BMX. The spindles that fit into these bearings are officially 3/4 inch in diameter but are more commonly referred to as being 19mm.