Are You ‘Thinking Metric’?
A STRANGE question? Perhaps for some persons, but not for all. About 90 percent of earth’s inhabitants “think metric.” Scientists, technicians, housewives, farmers, bakers, butchers—millions in all walks of life—regularly use metric weights and measures to designate and compute lengths, weights and other values.
Today a mere handful of nations—among them Burma, Sierra Leone and the United States of America—still cling to other means of measurement. Of the major industrialized countries, the United States alone uses the Customary or English system of weights and measures. But even England is well along in its ten-year program of switching to metric—“metrication,” if you prefer. Through education, posters and the like, the British are being urged to “think metric,” instead of mentally converting Customary units to metric measures. Britain’s target date for conversion? 1975.
Will the United States ‘Go Metric’?
Since World War II such industrial lands as Japan have ‘gone metric.’ The general consensus is that it will be only a matter of time before the United States makes the switch too. Why? Mainly because the country will lose foreign markets if it does not change to the metric system. After all, a nation using metric itself is more likely to trade with countries exporting metric products. Why purchase items based on Customary measurements and then encounter expensive parts and repair difficulties? As it is, according to certain studies, the United States is losing up to $600,000,000 yearly in potential exports because it adheres to the Customary system.
Some major United States firms already are ‘thinking metric’—at least to an extent. For instance, the first domestically built metric engine is being produced at the Ford Motor Company’s automotive plant in Lima, Ohio. Certain corporations are manufacturing both metrical and nonmetrical products. In fact, United States residents in general are ‘thinking metric’ more than they may realize. Doctors write prescriptions in metric quantities. At the drugstore one may purchase pharmaceutical preparations weighed out in grams and milligrams. Metric terms are used for camera lenses. Frequency of radio waves is measured in kilocycles; electrical power, in kilowatts.
Talk about metrication is nothing new in the United States. In 1821 John Quincy Adams, then Secretary of State, made a report to Congress in which one suggestion was “To adopt, in all its essential parts, the new French [metric] system of weights and measures . . .” As early as 1866, Congress passed a bill legalizing nationwide use of the metric system. The United States was among the first nations to ratify the 1875 Treaty of the Meter, and since 1893 such Customary units as the yard and pound have been defined as fractions of metric standards.
In 1968 the United States Congress authorized a study of the metric system. Three years, twelve volumes and $2,500,000 later the results were summarized in the very title of the final report to Congress, “A Metric America—A Decision Whose Time Has Come.”
Advocates of metric conversion cite such factors as the system’s simplicity and the trade advantages. Among other things, opponents say that the switch would be too costly; because of the problem of financing such a change, the proposition recently experienced a sharp setback in the U.S. House of Representatives. Others contend that it would be a great burden for workers now using the Customary system. But retraining has not been as difficult as some have expected. Among the public there also may be some resistance to change. Granted, a young lady with a 20-inch waist may not think that 50.8 centimeters makes her seem so petite! But, like others, probably she can adjust her thinking. Since so many already use the metric system and millions more are likely to begin ‘thinking metric,’ suppose we give it more careful consideration.
Development of the Metric System
The metric system had its start in France. During the turbulent days of the French Revolution, the National Assembly directed the Paris Academy of Sciences to Develop an invariable standard for all weights and measures to replace the diverse units then employed throughout the land. For that matter, the many nations had varying weights and measures, all hampering scientific and other communication. The Academy devised a relatively simple and consistent system. In it the meter, a fraction of earth’s circumference, was the unit of length. Other elements of the system were based on it. For example, the gram was equal to the mass of a cubic centi-meter of water at its temperature of greatest density.
Necessary studies, surveys and measurements spread over several years. Not until 1799 were metric standards legally adopted in France. Actually, old weights and measures continued in use throughout the country for years. By legislation enacted on July 4, 1837, the use of nonmetric units was forbidden after January 1, 1840. In time, other nations began using the metric system, until finally the majority had adopted it. Through the years there have been refinements, and in 1960 the General Conference of Weights and Measures resolved minor differences in the use of metric measurements by various countries. From this emerged the International Metric System, sometimes referred to as SI (Système International d’Unités).
A Closer Look
The metric system is named after its principal unit of length. That is the meter, derived from the Greek word meʹtron, meaning a measure. And how long is a meter? As determined originally, it is one ten-millionths of the distance between the North Pole and the earth’s Equator, measured along the meridian from Barcelona, Spain, to Dunkirk, France. Perhaps you really want to get technical. Well, according to present internationally accepted standards, the meter is defined as 1,650,763.73 wavelengths of the orange-red light from krypton-86 (an isotope of the inert gaseous element krypton) as measured in a vacuum. But those using the Customary system will find it much easier to think of the unit of length that they call a yard, and then add three and a third inches. Whereas the yard is 36 inches long, the meter is 39.37 inches in length.
Today’s metric system has six base units. For the unit of length, there is the meter. That of mass (commonly termed “weight”) is the kilogram. In the case of temperature it is the kelvin (translated into degrees Celsius, formerly centigrade). The time unit is the second. For electric current we have the ampere. And the candela is the unit of luminous intensity. Of course, the system includes other units, such as that for speed, but all are derived from the base units just mentioned. Incidentally, the second, ampere and candela are used in the Customary system too.
One feature of the metric system is its simplicity. When you are ‘thinking metric’ ten is the basic number to remember, for you are using a decimal system. Start with a base unit. Then either divide or multiply by ten. To designate resulting quantities, just add standard prefixes. Suppose we try this, and please notice the prefixes.
10 milligrams = 1 centigram
10 centigrams = 1 decigram
10 decigrams = 1 gram
10 grams = 1 decagram
10 decagrams = 1 hectogram
10 hectograms = 1 kilogram
10 kilograms = 1 myriagram
Since metric is a decimal system, on paper you can make quick calculations merely by moving the decimal point.
Will the Whole World ‘Go Metric’?
Man was weighing and measuring things thousands of years before metric came along. Step back well over five millenniums and take Tubal-cain as an example. You never heard of him? Well, the Bible says he was “the forger of every sort of tool of copper and iron.” (Gen. 4:17-22) Perhaps he founded such an occupation. At least he was prominent in it. Surely Tubal-cain weighed out the materials he used. Doubtless he also made some linear and other measurements. Of course, he was not ‘thinking metric.’ Yet, who can say that his method of computing weights and measures was unsatisfactory for what he needed?
Parts of the human body figured prominently in ancient systems of measurement. To illustrate: Among the Hebrews there was the “handbreadth,” a linear measure about equal to the width of the adult hand at the base of the fingers. (Ex. 37:12) Both the Greeks and the Romans had a length unit called a foot—and it was about as long as a man’s foot too. The Romans divided this unit into twelve parts called unciae, or “inches.”
The Customary system is made up largely of old weights and measures that are not based on any single unit. For instance, one must remember that there are three feet to a yard and 5,280 feet in a mile. He has to learn that there are sixteen ounces in a pint, thirty-two in a quart, and four quarts to a gallon of milk. However, all this does not make the Customary system unsatisfactory. After all, it has been used successfully by masons, maids, carpenters, cooks, machinists—millions of people—even though it has given them a good deal of mental exercise. But the metric system does have advantages, particularly if the one system is used by people everywhere.
What does the future hold in store for the metric system? Will it spread until the whole world has ‘gone metric’? Only time will tell how extensively the system will be used.
[Picture on page 18]
WEIGHT
1 kilogram = 2.2 pounds
LENGTH
30.5 centimeters = 1 foot
VOLUME
1 liter = 1.06 quarts