Advice for a 'Murrican going to CERN

[Borek]

Judging from the hole in Mars, they don't have to.

 

[Amok]

What?

 

[Geezer]

Don't you guys, as scientists, have to learn to use the metric system, even in the US?

Huh?

All American students are introduced to the metric system in elementary school; in general, our rulers indicate inches and feet as well as centimeters, millimeters, etc. In fact, I can always remember that 1 foot (12 inches) is about 30 centimeters long because of the ruler I used in school.

Officially, the U.S. is supposed to go metric (or already be metric?) but many Americans are too lazy to want to learn a new standard of measurement. Consequently, a lot of stuff is labeled with both systems of units (e.g. food labels). No one knows when the U.S. will really be metric.

As far as physicists are concerned, we work almost exclusively in SI or metric units, both in high school and at university.

 

[Drakkith]

What?

Mars Climate Orbiter

From wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter

The MCO MIB has determined that the root cause for the loss of the MCO spacecraft was the failure to use metric units in the coding of a ground software file, “Small Forces,” used in trajectory models. Specifically, thruster performance data in English units instead of metric units was used in the software application code titled SM_FORCES (small forces). The output from the SM_FORCES application code as required by a MSOP Project Software Interface Specification (SIS) was to be in metric units of Newtonseconds (N-s). Instead, the data was reported in English units of pound-seconds (lbf-s). The Angular Momentum Desaturation (AMD) file contained the output data from the SM_FORCES software. The SIS, which was not followed, defines both the format and units of the AMD file generated by ground-based computers. Subsequent processing of the data from AMD file by the navigation software algorithm therefore, underestimated the effect on the spacecraft trajectory by a factor of 4.45, which is the required conversion factor from force in pounds to Newtons. An erroneous trajectory was computed using this incorrect data.

 

[Drakkith]

Officially, the U.S. is supposed to go metric (or already be metric?) but many Americans are too lazy to want to learn a new standard of measurement. Consequently, a lot of stuff is labeled with both systems of units (e.g. food labels). No one knows when the U.S. will really be metric.

I can't wait!

 

[Geezer]

I can't wait!

Moi non plus!

 

[Drakkith]

Moi non plus!

No! You are a hot pocket!

 

[Amok]

I got used to some Imperial system units, but the great thing about the metric system is that everything is a multiple of 10 of something else, which makes things easier. I always get completely lost when people start talking about ounces (fluid or not). I can understand, inches, feet, yards, gallons and pints (BEER!).

 

[Kurdt]

Tell them you're Canadian.

 

[brewnog]

Don't you guys, as scientists, have to learn to use the metric system, even in the US?

Nah, they're still waiting to see if it catches on anywhere else...

 

[Geezer]

Tell them you're Canadian.

I once read that the most valuable passports on the black market are Canadian passports (they're even more desirable than US passports); no one has a beef with Canada, so Canadians can pretty much go anywhere hassle free.

 

[AlephZero]

I once read that the most valuable passports on the black market are Canadian passports (they're even more desirable than US passports); no one has a beef with Canada, so Canadians can pretty much go anywhere hassle free.

That may be true in general, but I remember am off the record comment from one of my employer's security people that "you can get Canadian citizenship by collecting the tops of cereal packets" - i.e. they dioesn't score many points in a security check.

 

[AlephZero]

Nah, they're still waiting to see if it catches on anywhere else...

Look out for published papers where the test specimen was 0.0254m long, or its mass was 0.4543kg. 'Nuff said.

My favorite compromise over this is what Boeing do. Their large airliners are designed in sections 8 feet 4 inches long. Think about it (and use a calculator if necessary).

 

[Norman]

Judging from the hole in Mars, they don't have to.

You are confusing engineers with scientists...

 

[lisab]

Look out for published papers where the test specimen was 0.0254m long, or its mass was 0.4543kg. 'Nuff said.

My favorite compromise over this is what Boeing do. Their large airliners are designed in sections 8 feet 4 inches long. Think about it (and use a calculator if necessary).

Imperial Metric !

 

[Geezer]

You are confusing engineers with scientists...

Good one.

 

[AlephZero]

Imperial Metric !

But the metric system has taken half the fun out of engineering software develoopment.

Gone are the days when the newbies used to come to the experts asking things like "Why is there a factor of 51337 in this formula" and get the instant answer "Oh, that's just to convert from tsi to pounds per square foot, divided by 2 pi".

Whaddaya mean, "documentation"? Never 'eard of such a thing!