On 2007 May 16 , at 10:15 AM, STANLEY DOORE wrote:
It would take the medical industry to require weighting and recording people's mass in the SI. This also would require a complete change in scales to show and record in SI units. Very expensive but doable.
My doctor already has a scale that weighs in kilograms, but he doesn't. It is a digital scale that can weigh in either pounds or kilograms at the touch of a switch. His nurse weighs me in pounds (which I carefully don't look at) and when she is done, I throw the switch and get my mass in kilograms (and I tell the nurse what it is).
So, for some doctors at least, recording masses in SI would not "require a complete change in scales" as Stanley suggests (above). It would just take the touch of a switch. I suspect many other doctors have similar scales.
Here's where the federal government could have a significant impact. They should require by law that all scales (and other measuring instruments) should be able to measure in SI, in addition to Ye Olde English mix of units. Doctors (and others) could continue using them to measure in old units but when the time came that the national will is to go metric, it would not require any massive purchase of new instruments; it would just take the touch of a switch.
Bill Hooper 73 kg body mass* Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA * plus or minus a kilogram or so.
