And carats in jewelry, too. I was to understand that one carat = 0.2 g. Is that so?
Quoting STANLEY DOORE <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > In some parts of the world, gold is sold by the gram and not by the ounce. > Why not make grams (SI) standard to avoid confusion so people will be able > to understand how much they are actually buying? > > Stan Doore > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Martin Vlietstra > To: U.S. Metric Association > Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 4:44 PM > Subject: [USMA:37782] Re: piecemeal metrication > > > Mike, > > It is usual in Europe to measure fuel consumption in L/100 km. If you > regard a litre of fuel as a unit of currency, then this is directly analgous > to buying apples at 75c/kg or gold at $624.45/troy oz etc. Also, expressing > fuel consumption that way round makes it easier to calculate the cost of fuel > per km, the cost of tyres per km, the cost of tax and insurance per km > (assuming a fixed annual amoutn of travelling) etc. > > Martin > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Bill Hooper > To: U.S. Metric Association > Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 5:49 PM > Subject: [USMA:37754] piecemeal metrication > > > > > On 2007 Jan 16 , at 8:38 AM, Mike Millet wrote: > That's why the best and smoothest transition in the US ... (will be) ... > rather from slow gradual economic and societal change. > > > "Slow" and "gradual" means difficult and expensive. During a long, slow > transition, both the old and new systems would be in effect causing a great > deal of confusion and extra work. Furthermore, when two systems are both in > effect, people would tend to continue using the old, familiar system. They > would not "gradually become familiar" with the new one. > > > Mike goes on to say: > give the US consumer some time ... (to become accustomed to dual > labeling) ... then gradually introduce temperature and fuel and finally road > signage changes. > > > It's difficult to change one things at a time because there are so many > interconnections between units. If one changes fuel measurement at one time > and road signage (including distance) at another time, when do you change > fuel economy figures from miles per gallon to kilometres per litre (or litres > per 100 kilometres)? > > > Do you first change from miles per gallon to miles per litre (when litres > are adopted) and then change from miles per litre to kilometres per litre at > a later time (when kilometres are adopted). That would mean having to make > TWO changes instead of just one for fuel economy alone (in addition to the > necessary changes from gallons to litres and from miles to kilometres. > > > Thus, instead of making a total of three changes at one time: > gal. to L, > mi. to km, > mi/gal to km/L > you'd have to make FOUR changes spread out over an extended period of > time: > gal. to L, > mi./gal. to mi./L, > mi. to km, > mi./L to km/L. > > > Another example would be cooking times based on oven temperature and > amount of food. We have charts or directions in Fahrenheit and pounds; we > will need to get to Celsius and kilograms. > Do we make TWO changes, first from Fahrenheit+pounds to Celsius+pounds > and later a second change from Celsius+pounds to Celsius+kilograms? How > foolish when we can do it in one change if we convert all things > simultaneously. > > > There are other relationships that cause would cause problems, too. We > know (actually I had to look up this first one) that there are 231 in^3 in a > gallon and 1000 cm^3 in a litre. If we convert volumes from gallons to litres > before we convert inches to centimetres, then in the interim (when we are > using litres and inches), do we need to know how many cubic inches there are > in a litre? (The answer is 61.023 7441, by the way.) Again, MORE conversions > are needed when changes are made in several steps instead of all at once. > > > > > Regards, > Bill Hooper > Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA > > > ========================== > SImplification Begins With SI. > ========================== > > -- Paul Trusten, R.Ph. Public Relations Director U.S. Metric Association, Inc. Phone (432)528-7724 www.metric.org 3609 Caldera Boulevard, Apartment 122 Midland TX 79707-2872 USA mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://home.grandecom.net/~trusten
