I checked Jefferson’s paper (http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/jeffplan.asp) in which he catalogued both the weights and measures in use in the US in 1791 and his proposed decimal system. The largest weight in use, according to his list, was the pound, but in his decimal system, he a number of units including the [decimal] pound (equal to 9.375 oz avoirdupois) and the [decimal] stone (equal to 10 [decimal] pounds). In other words, you nearly had a stone in the US.
More seriously however, once that student goes back to India, how likely is he to buy US goods? From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John M. Steele Sent: 18 February 2013 12:50 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:52368] An Alien’s Perspective: Rant about the Imperial system I suppose an alternate title could be: "Oh oh, Toto, I think we ARE in Kansas" An Indian foreign student complains about learning physics in US Customary: "Anyway, talking about conversion brings me to something I am constantly annoyed by. Why is there a difference in standards of measurements in the U.S. and why has noone been successful in doing something about it yet? Having wasted twenty-two minutes just converting units to make my calculations simpler, I can not help but wonder if this is all a grand plot devised to ruin my peace of mind. Understanding physics with imperial units feels like trying to perceive the dimensions of the subject in a neo-cubist painting. Why is Stone a unit that weighs fourteen pounds, when every stone I have encountered weighs only a fraction of a pound? The last time I checked, a slug was that slimy mollusc I saw crawling on a stone leaving a trail that led to the football field. I find it ironic that the U.K. has adopted the Metric system, while the U.S. still clings on to the sloppy, impractical Imperial system." http://www.thesunflower.com/opinion/article_58d86820-7984-11e2-b976-0019bb30f31a.html Since I have never heard the stone used in the US, I do wonder if he is exaggerating a bit. But if you have learned physics using metric measure, trying to relearn it in Customary must seem bizarre. But it seems clear that some colleges are determined to set bad examples for future generations.
