Why doesn’t US use metric system?

Question

It makes the most sense. Doesn’t the imperial system use metric system?, I might be wrong. They use metric system for the important stuffs but teach the kids other.

Answer 1

Many students today have to learn both. I don't think their will ever be a full transition. After awhile it's pretty easy to convert from one to the other. I think one of the biggest reasons for holding on to an old system is measuring lumber and paper. You'll notice that may industries, like bicycles, have moved to metric.

Answer 2

Changing to metric would require two things. First, people would have to learn metric INSTEAD of the "U.S. Customary" system, not "in addition to it." When students learn the U.S. Customary system from early on, they "think" in its terms, and the information has meaning. If someone says "That town is 25 miles away," we automatically know whether or not it's "walking distance," how long it will take to get there, how many gallons of gasoline the car will use in making the trip, and about a dozen other details. But if someone says "That town is 55 kilometers away," many Americans either have no idea what that "means," or have to translate the distance into "miles" in order for the information to have any relation to reality. Our entire country would have to "think in metric" from the beginning, measuring everything in meters, kilograms, degrees celsius, and so on, so that if someone says "twenty kilos," we instantly know whether or not the item is "heavy" and how much space it takes up. If someone says "Gas is $1.25 per liter," we need to know whether or not that's cheap, and how much it will cost to put in enough gas to drive from here to the nearest big city. All that will require a complete change in the education system. The second thing that would have to happen is a total revision of everything in the country which involves "measurement." Factories would all have to change so that all parts of all products were in metric sizes. Containers would have to be changed to store metric amounts. Some tools would need to be replaced, so workers could handle metric nuts and bolts. The list of needed changes is gigantic (whether you're measuring in metric or any other system) and the cost would be enormous. While it is probably the case that, eventually, everyone will get onto the "same sheet of music," just as with the handful of countries which still drive on the left side of the road, the change won't come fast, and it won't be easy or cheap.

Answer 3

Good question.



The metric system is in use in the US to an extent, but not fully. Medicine is usually prescribed in grams, milliliters, etc.

A lot of food/beverage containers/packaging have both imperial and metric measurements. For example, a water bottle I have nearby reads "16.9 FL OZ (500 mL)



Most cars from the past 25-30 years have both miles per hour and kilometers per hour on the speedometer. Engine sizes in the U.S are also expressed in the metric system. My 01 Taurus has a V6 3.0L engine whereas my dad's 97 Escort has a V4 2.0L engine.



PC components (fans, etc) are measured in millimeters (80 mm fan, 120 mm fan, etc). Same thing with PC temps. Most software used for monitoring hardware temperatures by default use Celsius.



I know that there are some roads that are in kilometers and meters. When I was en route to Nogales, AZ via I-19 the signs where all in kilometers and meters except for the speed limits.



I'm sure most people here in the US know about the metric system, so they're not completely oblivious to it, but they can't completely integrate it in their daily lives.



When I was in school from around 2003-2014, I was taught about the metric system. However, it was mostly about knowing that exists, some basic conversions and that was pretty much it in elementary school. After that, we didn't really learn much about it.

We would have problems to solve that used metric measurements, but most students didn't really "understand" the answers. 5 meters didn't really mean much to them.



I would imagine that in the future, there are going to be some pushes towards converting to the metric system, but it isn't going to be easy at all.

Answer 4

it would require a massive overhaul of the infrastructure