On Tuesday 06 September 2005 15:56, Daniel wrote: > Imperialists define a pint as a certain number of ounces. The 568 mL is > not the definition they go by. This is why they are afraid of the > Australian situation, where a pint is de-legalized and allowed to become > anything. 500 mL is not an acceptable redefintion of a pint because to > those that ignore the metric definition, 500 mL is not the same as xxx > ounces.
And how is the ounce defined? I don't know about the British ounce, but the American ounce is a fraction of the gallon, which is defined in cubic inches. The inch used to be defined by the Imperial standard yard, but that was destroyed. It is now defined as 25.4 mm, and the meter is defined in terms of the vibration of the cesium atom by fixing the speed of light, making it, and the ounce, a lot more precise than the Imperial standard yard could ever be. phma
