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Do Americans understand celsius?

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mr_bigmouth_502
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20 Dec 2013, 9:38 pm

Another thing I'll add, as long as there are older American cars on the road, people are going to need Imperial tools. I should know this, as I'm friends with a few people who are enthusiastic about vintage vehicles, and I know that there are tons of others out there just like them. And the last time I checked, Canadian cars are built pretty much just like American cars.

Max000
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20 Dec 2013, 9:41 pm

pete1061 wrote:

Max000 wrote:

pete1061 wrote:

Max000 wrote:

mr_bigmouth_502 wrote:

It's not just repainting road signs or whatever, entire industries would have to change how they do business, businesses would have to get all new tools and machines and software and whatever else they use, and since it would be a government-mandated change, a lot of businesses would likely demand tax breaks. Things have gotten a LOT more complicated since the rest of the world underwent metrication 40 years ago, and the US practically runs on the Imperial system of measurement.

Switching to metric would save money on tools, not cost more. Mechanics would save 50% on tools by not having to buy both metric and English tool sets for domestic and foreign cars. One universal system saves money in the long term. But don't tell that to the Republicans who hate change regardless.

The long term yes, it would pay off.
But you forget, this is america dude, we don't do long term.

And It's not just about the republicans, :roll:

It's just Republicans. As you already pointed out, it was Ronald Reagan who killed the metric system. If Jimmy Carter had won a second term, then the conversion would have been too far along for anyone to stop it. But the Republicans are always there to obstruct progress.

You are just stuck in democrat blinder mode. Can't you see beyond party politics?

It has nothing to do with seeing beyond party politics. It has to do with the core ideology of conservatives (Republicans).

con·ser·va·tive
(kn-sûrv-tv)
adj.
1. Favoring traditional views and values; tending to oppose change.

Conservative - definition

I.e: Most conservative Republicans would rather drop dead then change to the metric system.

ruveyn
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21 Dec 2013, 5:09 am

What is there to understand? Celsius and Fahrenheit are connected by a trivial linear function.

ruveyn

Arran
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21 Dec 2013, 6:10 am

Marylandman889 wrote:

A switch to Celsius for The United States might be much better for its citizens, but it would take time. (Maybe not just switching to it, but getting used to it too).

Apart from weather reports what else is holding back a switch to celsius? Is there an objection to the teaching of celsius in schools?

mr_bigmouth_502
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21 Dec 2013, 9:41 am

ruveyn wrote:

What is there to understand? Celsius and Fahrenheit are connected by a trivial linear function.

ruveyn

For this reason, I think that if the US were to switch to the Metric system, learning how to measure the temperature in Celcius would be a great start.

ruveyn
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21 Dec 2013, 10:12 am

There would still be the matter of the Kelvin scale. The Kelvin degree is the same size as the Celsius degree but Kelvin is much higher. Room temperature is around 300 Kelvin.

Most people do not comprehend thermodynamics.

ruveyn

mr_bigmouth_502
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21 Dec 2013, 1:23 pm

ruveyn wrote:

Tell me about it, whenever someone tells me not to let the "cold" out of something I always think "wait a sec, it doesn't work that way"...

Arran
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22 Dec 2013, 5:34 am

If an American celsius lobby was founded then how successful would it be? Am I right in saying that there is more public support for celsius than the media and industry thinks there is but it isn't evenly spread out across the nation?

Food packaging is redesigned every year so the cost of switching to celsius, starting with both celsius and fahrenheit figures, will be negligible. If HVAC equipment works in both celsius and fahrenheit then the same models can be sold in both the US and Canada which could reduce costs for manufacturers rather than having separate fahrenheit and celsius models for the American and Canadian markets. Weather reports are the difficult area but is the reluctance to use celsius because the media bosses still go round thinking that over 90% of customers are WASPs with a 1950s mindset?

eric76
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23 Dec 2013, 6:14 pm

Max000 wrote:

pete1061 wrote:

IThe real problem is the Republicans who love to obstruct progress. No matter how much sense something makes. :roll:

The only difference between the Democrats and the Republicans in this issue is what progress they obstruct.

eric76
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23 Dec 2013, 6:26 pm

Max000 wrote:

pete1061 wrote:

Max000 wrote:

mr_bigmouth_502 wrote:

The long term yes, it would pay off.
But you forget, this is america dude, we don't do long term.

And It's not just about the republicans, :roll:

Not hardly.

Jimmy Carter made somewhat of an effort to implement the Metric Conversion Act which was signed into law by Gerald Ford (who was, by the way, a Republican), not Jimmy Carter. The effort failed because it had little or no support from the citizens, not because of Ronald Reagan.

Adamantium
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23 Dec 2013, 7:07 pm

Actually, it really was Reagan. Well, his administration, to be more specific. Lyn Nofziger, to be precise.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 02142.html

Frank Mankiewicz in the Washington Post wrote wrote:

So, during that first year of Reagan's presidency, I sent Lyn another copy of a column I had written a few years before, attacking and satirizing the attempt by some organized do-gooders to inflict the metric system on Americans, a view of mine Lyn had enthusiastically endorsed. So, in 1981, when I reminded him that a commission actually existed to further the adoption of the metric system and the damage we both felt this could wreak on our country, Lyn went to work with material provided by each of us. He was able, he told me, to prevail on the president to dissolve the commission and make sure that, at least in the Reagan presidency, there would be no further effort to sell metric.

Metric conversion was well underway when Reagan killed it. There were dual-system signs on the interstates (Still are in many places!), and many companies converted for compatibility with their international units. Speedometers show KPH and had selectable or dual odometers. Products and food listed weight in grams and so on. Conversion may have been more complete in some parts of the US than others, but it really was happening all over the place.

The legacy is still there. We still buy soda in 1.5 and 2 liter bottles and no one balks at buying them. Your WD-40 comes in an 8oz/226g can. Bike and car enthusiasts usually have multiple tools for each system (metric and imperial wrench and socket sets). Scientists measure in SI mks units and soldiers talk about distances in Klicks, etc.

Some of the Republicans did have some weird, idiotic idea about the international standard as some kind of attack on American sovereignty... Goofy.

I blame them for the loss of the Mars Climate Observer (There may be better stories about this, but none with a finer headline)

Democrats are responsible for all kinds of other stupidities, but this one really does come straight from the Gipper and his merry men. Many citizens were just fine with metric.

eric76
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23 Dec 2013, 7:47 pm

Adamantium wrote:

Actually, it really was Reagan. Well, his administration, to be more specific. Lyn Nofziger, to be precise.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 02142.html

Frank Mankiewicz in the Washington Post wrote wrote:

The only ones I knew who were fine with metric were those with a good scientific background and people who grew up in other countries where metric was being used. Everyone else that I knew was strongly opposed to changing to the metric system.

In any event, claims that Ronald Reagan killed the effort to switch to the metric system are just plain wrong. All he did was do away with a single board. On the other hand, he did sign a bill that amended the Metric Conversion Act to strengthen it.

The reality is that effort has continued under the Metric Conversion Act to switch over, but that switch over is voluntary. Reagan did not derail it.

ruveyn
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23 Dec 2013, 7:57 pm

All the parts of my bicycle (made in the U.S.A.O) are metric size parts. Down to the smallest screw.

ruveyn

Arran
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23 Dec 2013, 8:01 pm

Metric conversion was implemented in Britain gradually, still isn't complete, and fahrenheit was amongst the first units to go which is why almost nobody in Britain under the age of 30 understands it. Roads are still measured in miles and yards. Beer and milk are sold by the pint. Most people think of their height in terms of feet and inches. I can remember the days when it was the norm to sell fresh food in pounds and ounces, and floor coverings were sold by the square foot, but fahrenheit was a mysterious measurement that old folk sometimes mentioned in conversation but you rarely ever encountered it anywhere else.

eric76
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23 Dec 2013, 8:03 pm

Adamantium wrote:

There were dual-system signs on the interstates

Aren't the states responsible for the signs? I certainly don't remember seeing any metric signs in Texas.

Quote:

We still buy soda in 1.5 and 2 liter bottles and no one balks at buying them.

Actually, the 2 liter bottles have been around since 1970. That was five years before President Ford signed the Metric Conversion Act.

I don't think I have ever seen a 1.5 liter bottle of soft drinks.

Quote:

Bike and car enthusiasts usually have multiple tools for each system (metric and imperial wrench and socket sets).

Again, this has nothing to do with the Metric Conversion Act. Mechanics working on foreign cars that used metric nuts and bolts had to have metric wrenches and those were around long before 1975.

In the summer of 1974, I was helping someone replace the water pump on their car with metric nuts and bolts and we didn't have any metric wrenches. We got the old ones off okay, but trying to get them tightened again with a crescent wrench without rounding them off was problematical. We ended up using a file to file the heads down so that standard wrenches would work.

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