Sunday, July 24, 2011

Standard versus Metric



I was snooping around the Internet and looking at standard measurements and metric measurement. I like to tinker on vehicles and it really does bug me that some cars use standard wrenches and then others use metric. I often wonder why they can't all be the same. The video above really does a nice just explaining things and it would work really well in a classroom setting.


STANDARD / METRIC
WRENCH CONVERSION CHART

Bolt Size
Standard
Metric
1/8"
5/16
8 mm
3/16"
3/8
10 mm
1/4"
7/16
11 mm
5/16"
1/2
13 mm
3/8"
9/16
14 mm
7/16"
5/8
16 mm
1/2"
3/4
19 mm
9/16"
13/16
21 mm
5/8"
15/16
24 mm
3/4"
1 1/8
28 mm
7/8"
1 5/16
---------
1"
1 1/2
---------

I actually found out that only 3-4 countries in the world use the English system of measurement. Myanmar (Burma), Liberia,USA and the UK. I find it very interesting that we are only 1 of 3-4 countries that don't use the metric system. 

I personally wish we would change to the metric system just because the metric system is based on 10 where the standard system uses 12. It would just be easier and I like things easier when it comes to teaching and learning math.