We are still paying homage to King Henry VIII.

The weight measurements that we use in the United States today were actually established by King Henry the Eighth (none other). Before that there was the Tower pound and the London pound plus a few others based upon the "Tower Ounce" that had its standard kept in the notorious Tower of London. These were based upon grains that were slightly larger than the original Roman grains. There were also two types of grains being the "standard" barley and wheat grains. It all gets very confusing. The Troy ounce was also changed. Also the original "penny" was to be a "pennyweight" (Medieval) of silver which kind of comes out to maybe a United States two dollar bill today.

Oh yes, King Henry, who was a trend setter even in his day, he kicked out the Catholic Church and started his own which is still the Church of England to this day with the Queen as the head. He even made divorce trendy why its almost a way of life today. Did you know he even wrote classical music? Yes its true. He was a man for all seasons, and he gave us our measuring system at least in part. What a guy.

River

moi621 (imported) wrote: Sat May 14, 2011 7:58 pm And like Pi, Absolute Zero is not Absolute.

It has been subject to recalculation. Go figure.

Centigrade, Metric, we can only blame the French and Napoleon who spread it around Europe. Given time all these nations and their unique measurements might have been settled amongst themselves as the world demanded a more international system, like inches,pounds and quarts.

Moi

Too many bananas in a Kg. And too little gasoline in a liter.

What next, the metric dozen?

Thanks for that great review of temperature measurement development.

Reputation tag coming your way G.

Actually, you have to calculate in relativistic effects when you deal with it...

...have fun with that...

moi621 (imported) wrote: Sat May 14, 2011 7:58 pm Centigrade, Metric, we can only blame the French and Napoleon who spread it around Europe. Given time all these nations and their unique measurements might have been settled amongst themselves as the world demanded a more international system, like inches,pounds and quarts.

Before we got the international metric system, we used to have in the Netherlands and in Europe in general the inch (duim), pond (pound), mijl (mile), voet (foot) and so on, but each city, region had their own and they were all different.

There is a Dutch saying "Wat de boer niet kent dat vreet hij niet. - What the farmer don't know, he don't eat." That's the point with this thread.

That's the point with this thread.

I have no idea, then again you must look to see who started it, in that you may find an answer.

River

moi621 (imported) wrote: Sat May 14, 2011 7:58 pm And like Pi, Absolute Zero is not Absolute.

It has been subject to recalculation..

what the hell are you talking about? Pi has been a standard constant for millennia. The decimal approximation might have varied in precision/accuracy, but Greeks and Romans have used and respected that ratio, for quite a while, and the Chinese undoubtedly before that.

Proofread your posts!

jab (imported) wrote: Tue May 17, 2011 9:43 am what the hell are you talking about? Pi has been a standard constant for millennia. The decimal approximation might have varied in precision/accuracy, but Greeks and Romans have used and respected that ratio, for quite a while, and the Chinese undoubtedly before that.

Proofread your posts!

Don't take it so seriously. This is a make believe post in the fantasy land of "numbers are hard and make my head hurt" land.

Reality doesn't count here. The only "metric" quantity I find hard to think in is pressure. Pascals give me heartburn. However, centrigrade, Fahrenheit, Abosolute temps, distance, volume and all those other measurements are simply trivial.

Remember, the first course in Chemical Engineering (I have a Bachelors Degree in Chem Eng) is dimensional analysis. That is a tool used to determine what variables are relevant to the problem and which aren't relevant.

Furlongs per fortnight is a handy measure.

If a train is running at 13,400 Furlongs per fortnight, how far does it go in an hour.

Now that's a trivial question that isn't metric but the answer is about 64 kilometers per hour. Not as good as most highways...

But we are in Moi's bizarro land and "Furlongs per fortnight" are non-existent.

What really Pisses Me Off is having an American set of wrenches and metric nuts.

Or having a metric wrench and an American nut...

Dave (imported) wrote: Tue May 17, 2011 11:02 am What really Pisses Me Off is having an American set of wrenches and metric nuts.

Or having a metric wrench and an American nut...

Now, are you referring to the kind of nuts that fit on bolts or some of the nuts that we have in the Archive?

ME!!!!

little old ME!!!!

The United States is the last major holdout. How long will it be before we go metric?