km or miles??
Comments
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Australia went completely metric in the 1970s, and to decimal currency in the 1960s.springtide9 wrote:Being serious, we have finally migrated pretty much all measurements to metric, apart from distance/speed. Imperial hasn't been taught in school for probably a decade or even two.
I would guess the average 20 year old only knows about 'Miles' from when they start learning to drive. Why we can't make the final switch is beyond logic. I guess we are still ultimately ruled by the USA, with our 'special friendship'.0 -
Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:
Australia went completely metric in the 1970s, and to decimal currency in the 1960s.springtide9 wrote:Being serious, we have finally migrated pretty much all measurements to metric, apart from distance/speed. Imperial hasn't been taught in school for probably a decade or even two.
I would guess the average 20 year old only knows about 'Miles' from when they start learning to drive. Why we can't make the final switch is beyond logic. I guess we are still ultimately ruled by the USA, with our 'special friendship'.
You could write a thesis on the Metrifiaction of the UK:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metricatio ... ed_Kingdom
Initiation of a national education programme in the schools
In England and Wales, unlike Scotland, education was controlled at county council level rather than at national level. In 1967 the Department for Education alerted all local education authorities to the need to adapt to the metric system. In 1968 all bodies that had an interest in the examination system were invited to contribute to the discussion of both metrication and decimalisation in education. In science subjects, this meant a conversion from the cgs system to SI, in geography from the imperial system to SI while in mathematics it meant discarding the teaching of mixed unit arithmetic, a topic that took up a significant part of the time allocated in primary schools to arithmetic/mathematics and 7% of total time allocated to all subjects.
Old-fashioned schoolroom at The Ragged School Museum, with pre-decimal-currency conversions on the blackboard
In Scotland, virtually all examinations set in 1973 onwards used SI, especially those connected with science and engineering.[50] In England, each examination board had its own timetable – the Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations for example announced a change to SI in 1968 with examinations in science and mathematics using SI by the 1972, Geography in 1973 and Home Economics and various craft subjects being converted by the end of 1976. . The changes were hampered by a revolution in teaching methods that was taking place at the same time and a lack of coordination at the national level. A report in 1982 noted that children were taught the relationship between decimal counting, decimal money and metric measurements, with time being the only quantity whose units were manipulated in a mixed-unit manner.
The biggest change in education in England since the 1970s was the introduction in 1988 of the National Curriculum, in which SI is the principal system of measurement and calculation. However, pupils are expected to know how to convert between metric and imperial units that are still in everyday use, specifically "pounds, feet, miles, pints and gallons", and conversion between the two systems is given as an example of numerical problems students should be able to solve. The National Curriculum makes no mention of the manipulation of imperial units, and activity that Workman, when writing his book "The Tutorial Arithmetic" in 1902, bemoaned as "...half a year of school life ... entirely wasted for every English boy in learning the arithmetical devices necessary for managing the "weights and measures" previously explained."
In 1995, educationalist Jenny Houssart wrote "For years there was a feeling that the metric system was something teachers pretended existed, although inhabitants of the real world knew better." Lord Howe of Aberavon, speaking in the House of Lords, asserted that the United Kingdom's policy came close to recreating "Disraeli's two nations-divided between, on the one hand, a metrically literate elite and, on the other, a rudderless and bewildered majority."
The italic quotes pretty much sum up SI for the UK.Simon0 -
Depends where you are. Here a car's power is always advertised in kilowatts.Trev The Rev wrote:300 watts is approx 0.4 Horse Power. If you grew up using horse power it is difficult to 'feel' in watts. They still use horse power in the motor industry.0 -
Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:
Depends where you are. Here a car's power is always advertised in kilowatts.Trev The Rev wrote:300 watts is approx 0.4 Horse Power. If you grew up using horse power it is difficult to 'feel' in watts. They still use horse power in the motor industry.
UK Cars are usually quoted in PS rather than BHP (which is what I believe the USA use), although KW are usually in [brackets]. So our (UK) quoted power measurements are different to the USA.
FYI
BHP is "Brake Horse Power" - the standard used in the US under the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). It is measured by applying resistance (a "brake") on a dynamometer and measuring the heat produced while maintaining rpms as the load is gradually increased.
PS is the European equivalent, sometimes called DIN (Deutesche Institut fur Normung, for 'German Institute for Standardization'). DIN horsepower numbers are approximately 1.38% higher than SAE numbers.
But we usually talk "Miles Per Gallon" for fuel efficiency even though we purchase fuel in litres. Emissions are always quoted in g/km.
Just to be clear, that's Miles per UK Gallon, since to add just a little bit more confusion, UK Gallon is 4.5L litres where as a USA Gallon is 3.7L
So to be clear, although the UK and US appear to use the same units for 'Power' and 'Volume' in the car industry, the don't... but they are similar(ish).Simon0 -
I measure in miles and mph but I tell my friends in km as it sounds further. XD0
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kathrynwhite wrote:I measure in miles and mph but I tell my friends in km as it sounds further. XD
Are you a triathlete?0 -
dodgy wrote:kathrynwhite wrote:I measure in miles and mph but I tell my friends in km as it sounds further. XD
Are you a triathlete?
No. I do the three events but not well enough to do as a triathlon. I focus mostly on cycling.0
