Wouldn't budge an inch for a centimetre? This guide to the new-fangled system of metrication may change your mind. See more public information films free on BFI Player (UK only).
It's metric because it's part of the SI system which is "the metric system" by definition, or at least the _standard_ metric system - "metric" as a term can also more broadly refer to other, non-SI (and not encourageable, if not deprecated outright) units based on kilograms and meters like "kilograms of force" (kgf) which is confusing and sometimes also called "kilograms", also "bars" for pressure. Most of these are considered "old school" metric units - SI is "new school". SI uses Newtons for force and multiples thereof (kN, MN, etc.), Pascals (Pa) for pressure (so kPa, etc.). A few "old metric" units, like the bar, and the hectare (which is equivalent to square hectometer, hm^2, but would be more profitably replaced with simply square meter, m^2, imo) are considered as "acceptable" legacy units in that the SI standard will not recommend their usage should be stopped, although it also does not argue against them. The French revolutionaries who originally created the metric system had intended to define a second as 1/100 000 of a day, but that was actually nixed before the metric system even was introduced - not sure of the exact reason but it was stopped at the same moment of introduction, and only lasted for a year. To make a complete system the traditional second was reinstated as metric unit, now defined as atomic time, and so only approximately 1/86 400 of a true day, which is not a stable unit. (86 400 s still makes a "standard day", which is not an SI unit but another "acceptable for use" unit.) Changing the system now to 1/100 000 day seconds would not really be feasible as that essentially breaks a lot of the system, in particular the units I mentioned before of newton and pascal, and even others like the volt (V), depend on the definition of the second, and thus any substantial change to it would break those units, or require new units and thus a rewriting of all existing scientific manuals, essentially making a wholly new metric system. The SI does though feature larger units of time based on powers of 10 - such as kiloseconds (ks) = 1 000 s. I've often argued that we should use these instead of the more traditional minutes and hours, because for one they are compatible with "proper" SI units like m/s for speed - note that in this video, they mention changing from meters per second to kilometers per hour in different contexts. That gives two different speed scales that are not quite so simply related (have funny factor 3.6), If you use ks, then m/s = km/ks, and the same scale works for both short distance speed and long distance speed. Your car could go at 30 m/s, and you know it'll take 2 ks to go 60 km. And someone running at 4 m/s goes 400 m in 100 s. And the car is roughly 6.5 times faster than the human. Don't see why you can't have a clock that goes up to 86.3 instead of 23:59. While not quite as neat as one going to 9:99 as in French revolutionary time, it's at least still compatible with existing units. (Plus when we go to Mars, it won't be a nice number of seconds any more either in a day - Mars' day is close to 88 775 s long, or 102 749 French revolutionary seconds, so the nice decimal factor is spoiled.) Although then you have to build all those new clocks and watches (though most clocks now are computer code, e.g. on smartphones, PCs, etc.) so that's tough too. At least though you need only build new watches, not also toss out all measuring instruments and books full of measurements instead of both at the same time :)
Even that's an approximation, it uses a common thing that affected all of us. That's the earth rotation. That's the only thing matters. The SI unit use the common things as the base unit. For example, metre is defined by the distance of light travel in vacuum. Light and vacuum are something that the whole humankind use. How do you define a foot and an inch? Is there any base unit for it? In metric, for the larger amount, just multiply by exponent of 10. How do you step up from inch to foot to miles? That's the reason why SI is accepted in the whole wide world.
when i go to a foreign country the thing that makes it interesting is the differences from home. why does Britain have to change all its customs and heritage to fit in? difference is what gives every country its uniqueness.. when brexit happens lets drop all this french driven crap and become Britain as it used to be. stick to miles yards,feet and inches and pounds and ounces. LETS BE DIFFERENT...
@dean wibley: While I agree with you that differences make the world exciting, I think when it comes to units of measurements it's just a pain in the arse if every country used its own units. One standardised system of measurement would make the world so much better and easier for everyone. Thank god we're almost there!
The US has so much to learn from this video.
Why can't the US be their ow. country
Newton, kelvin, and watt, three metric units named after brits.
In 1974, I was in 3rd grade, in New Jersey, and they tried to teach us metric...by the time I was in 5th grade we went back to the old way....
@@pascoe42 And what is the average size of a dickhead ?
Winter scene with frozen river filmed in Umea, Sweden.
He said soccer, you see Brits, You guys did invent that word before you changed it to "football."
We happily use both. It's a myth that we Brits don't use the word soccer
In English language can use word 'futbol' for soccer.
If only a sunny day was 22…
ahahah! the girl measuring 90-60-90 INCHES!!!
Wait, the second is metric? The second is 1/86400 of a day, and even that's an approximation.
It's metric because it's part of the SI system which is "the metric system" by definition, or at least the _standard_ metric system - "metric" as a term can also more broadly refer to other, non-SI (and not encourageable, if not deprecated outright) units based on kilograms and meters like "kilograms of force" (kgf) which is confusing and sometimes also called "kilograms", also "bars" for pressure. Most of these are considered "old school" metric units - SI is "new school". SI uses Newtons for force and multiples thereof (kN, MN, etc.), Pascals (Pa) for pressure (so kPa, etc.). A few "old metric" units, like the bar, and the hectare (which is equivalent to square hectometer, hm^2, but would be more profitably replaced with simply square meter, m^2, imo) are considered as "acceptable" legacy units in that the SI standard will not recommend their usage should be stopped, although it also does not argue against them.
The French revolutionaries who originally created the metric system had intended to define a second as 1/100 000 of a day, but that was actually nixed before the metric system even was introduced - not sure of the exact reason but it was stopped at the same moment of introduction, and only lasted for a year. To make a complete system the traditional second was reinstated as metric unit, now defined as atomic time, and so only approximately 1/86 400 of a true day, which is not a stable unit. (86 400 s still makes a "standard day", which is not an SI unit but another "acceptable for use" unit.) Changing the system now to 1/100 000 day seconds would not really be feasible as that essentially breaks a lot of the system, in particular the units I mentioned before of newton and pascal, and even others like the volt (V), depend on the definition of the second, and thus any substantial change to it would break those units, or require new units and thus a rewriting of all existing scientific manuals, essentially making a wholly new metric system.
The SI does though feature larger units of time based on powers of 10 - such as kiloseconds (ks) = 1 000 s. I've often argued that we should use these instead of the more traditional minutes and hours, because for one they are compatible with "proper" SI units like m/s for speed - note that in this video, they mention changing from meters per second to kilometers per hour in different contexts. That gives two different speed scales that are not quite so simply related (have funny factor 3.6), If you use ks, then m/s = km/ks, and the same scale works for both short distance speed and long distance speed. Your car could go at 30 m/s, and you know it'll take 2 ks to go 60 km. And someone running at 4 m/s goes 400 m in 100 s. And the car is roughly 6.5 times faster than the human. Don't see why you can't have a clock that goes up to 86.3 instead of 23:59. While not quite as neat as one going to 9:99 as in French revolutionary time, it's at least still compatible with existing units. (Plus when we go to Mars, it won't be a nice number of seconds any more either in a day - Mars' day is close to 88 775 s long, or 102 749 French revolutionary seconds, so the nice decimal factor is spoiled.) Although then you have to build all those new clocks and watches (though most clocks now are computer code, e.g. on smartphones, PCs, etc.) so that's tough too. At least though you need only build new watches, not also toss out all measuring instruments and books full of measurements instead of both at the same time :)
Even that's an approximation, it uses a common thing that affected all of us. That's the earth rotation. That's the only thing matters. The SI unit use the common things as the base unit. For example, metre is defined by the distance of light travel in vacuum. Light and vacuum are something that the whole humankind use. How do you define a foot and an inch? Is there any base unit for it? In metric, for the larger amount, just multiply by exponent of 10. How do you step up from inch to foot to miles? That's the reason why SI is accepted in the whole wide world.
Simple, straightforward, suffocating. The EU.
Er, yes. Who's Huffington ? Never heard of them.
Simple, straightforward, and saves people time and money. That’s the EU
If I meet a Brexit scumbag, I'll only use metric.
Americans you should watch this 😂
nice and now with the brexit return to stick roots corns and furlongs
art idt I voted for Brexit but even I think that we should finish off what we started and fully convert to metric
when i go to a foreign country the thing that makes it interesting is the differences from home. why does Britain have to change all its customs and heritage to fit in? difference is what gives every country its uniqueness.. when brexit happens lets drop all this french driven crap and become Britain as it used to be. stick to miles yards,feet and inches and pounds and ounces. LETS BE DIFFERENT...
If the only thing that separates countries apart is the units they use, then there's only two countries on the planet.
@dean wibley: While I agree with you that differences make the world exciting, I think when it comes to units of measurements it's just a pain in the arse if every country used its own units. One standardised system of measurement would make the world so much better and easier for everyone. Thank god we're almost there!