Could you provide some context for your question? From the fact that you have indicated that you work in the 'Aerospace' sector I can understand why you may be asking this question but I would like to hear you say it first.
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
You are obviously more generous than I am. I am not prepared to put any effort into an answer if the OP is not prepared to put any effort into his question.
Regards
Pat
See FAQ731-376 for tips on use of eng-tips by professional engineers &
By many measures the metric system has some advantages over 'US customary' however, they are often (in my opinion & having used both my entire career) significantly overstated.
While true believers may not want to hear this, some folk espouse that there may be a few disadvantages to the metric V US system.
(Plus keep in mind, as implied so subtly by Pat this site is not US only so many members are already metrified.)
If you are using one system you do not want to switch to another.
I was working in the UK when they went metric and it was not seamless or painless. Anybody got a 6.34mm bolt?
B.E.
The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them. Old professor
Pat, according to my Director I have 'people skills' - not sure my old manager would have agreed but there you go.
(Then again, I'm pretty sure it was my directors way of saying 'Ken you're a bit of dumb a$$ but vaguely useful and as we can't hire any new folk quickly right now and I need someone to dump the project management of these horrible tasks on to...')
Remind me, how much is a third of a meter? A third of a foot or yard is easy.
Well I was working for a British company here in the states when the UK went through 'decimalization' and while it had no direct effect on us, I can remember reading the group newspaper where there would be articles about how to avoid being ripped-off at the 'green grocers', both when you were looking at the units of measure of what you were buying as well as making sure that you got the correct change back.
And BTW, working for that British company we were told to say 'Imperial' units, as they frowned on the term 'English' units as it made it sound like they were somehow to blame ;-)
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
We went officially in 1970 in Aus but it was really gathering momentum in 1974. Having a lab/scientific background, I found it easier than most, but must admit that 40 years on I still use imperial for some measures.
The real pain was in the early 80s where some cars had engines, transmissions and bodies built in different parts of the world and used different bolt stds on different parts. What bolts do you use to bolt an American gearbox to a Japanese made engine to go into an Australian made car. If it's imperial will it be Whitworth or SAE. If it's metric will it be Japanese or European metric.
Regards
Pat
See FAQ731-376 for tips on use of eng-tips by professional engineers &
Back in the 60's, when I was in engineering school, we had to deal with both schemes on nearly a daily basis. It was sort of a joke as a US highway split the campus in half (it has since been diverted, bypassing most of the area) with the majority of the science classes being held in buildings on one side of the road while the engineering buildings were all on the other side. So as you walked across the highway between classes (trying to avoid getting hit by an 18-wheeler) you would move from SI/Metric units to Imperial/English/Traditional units. And the amazing thing is that NO one, faculty or student, ever really commented that much about the absurdity of the situation, except for the highway acting as a sort of 'barrier' between these two 'worlds'.
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
John,
How many wheels does a metric 18 wheeler have?
Hokie,
1/5 of a foot is no tougher than 1/6 of a meter.
I teach a lot of classes to pretty mixed audiences all over the world and I've gotten tired of fighting over system names. I now label one column "SI" and the other I follow the JM Campbell convention and use "fps" for "feet, pounds, seconds". It isn't exactly right (since oilfield units and psi don't fit the fps system, and dyne/cm is not SI), but I don't have to argue about whether it is "English", "Imperial", "Old", or just "dumb".
I always ask a new class what units do they use for natural gas production volumes. I get such a range of answers (in one class of 20, I got 13 different units). In the U.S. the basic volume is MSCF/day. In Canada it is E3m3/day (thousands of cubic meters, at "standard" conditions is implied but the standard is anything but). In Australia they pretend that all gas is 1000 BTU/SCF and convert to Joules (an MJ is an MCF with that silly assumption). I think it was Namibia that used kg/hr, which really makes the most sense to me but everyone else wants to use volumes tied to a rock (STP or some variant). After about half way around the room we always agree that MSCF works for more of us that any alternative. Almost no one like m^3/day because the numbers are too damn small.
"The great thing about standards is there are so many to choose from." <author unknown>
This is just my humble opinion, but this whole issue of which standard should America be using today would be moot if the Aerospace industry didn't depend so much on selling military hardware, which is basically purchased by a single customer, the Federal government, whose procurement processes are still rooted in the last century (and I don't necessarily mean the 20th). This was the basis for my rather snarky remark to the OP of this thread when I noted that he had self-identified as working in the 'Aerospace' industry and this was probably WHY he was asking a question of this nature.
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
