There's a correction to this video: the fraction on screen at 00:49 should be 1/299792458. Looks like I copied and pasted an extra 1 and didn't realise it. Apologies. You can see all the corrections for this channel at www.tomscott.com/corrections/

@TheElvisnator

3 жыл бұрын

Hi

@SourGummyes

3 жыл бұрын

i wow

@guardianofh5205

3 жыл бұрын

Doesn't really matter too much but i guess now you can say no false information

@applehack97

3 жыл бұрын

bruh, why did you delete the other pinned comment?

@charleslma0

3 жыл бұрын

It's cool, it's only off by a quintillion

When parliament burnt down, the losses were immeasurable

@GamIngDoge.

3 жыл бұрын

Not bad, kid.

@griplimit

3 жыл бұрын

DA!!!

@SodAlmighty

3 жыл бұрын

Best comment.

@lIlIllIIllllI

3 жыл бұрын

😐that joke was so bad I died😐

@lIlIllIIllllI

3 жыл бұрын

@Esperantrul Tristam damn

So Americans ARE actually using the metric system without realising? I swear, give em 25.4mm and they'll take 1.609km.

@rmsgrey

3 жыл бұрын

Why would anyone give them a tenth of an inch? edit: at the time of this posting, the original post in this thread read, in part "give em 2.54mm". That has been retconned, but has left temporal anomalies such as this comment.

@yungboy4216

3 жыл бұрын

How are youtube commenters so good at puns?

@StefanoLinguanotto

3 жыл бұрын

So you only allow them 1/10 of an inch to be safe? Still they'll take 10^7 that. Oh wait, they can't do this easy math with their units so they'll take even more to be sure.

@GludiusMaximus

3 жыл бұрын

Just stop

@user-xv8eo2pk9g

3 жыл бұрын

Clever

I love how he goes "Is that in frame, I cant tell" while it is literally most perfect shot he could have created at that moment.

@wavion2

Жыл бұрын

Editing. It's *possible* he filmed the perfect shot, but it's much more likely the source frame was larger and he cropped and centered it (and color corrected it, and who knows what else) to give us a nice, professional video.

@izanefe4231

5 ай бұрын

nah he probably filmed on a much wider frame and then cropped it down, if you're gonna upload in 1080p and have a 4k camera that's the best way to do it

"By the researches of scientific men, doubts were thrown on the accuracy~" I like that phrase, now i'm just going to have to find excuses to use it

@Kenionatus

Жыл бұрын

Oh, that's easy, just say "By the researches of scientific men, doubts were thrown on the accuracy of [Politician]'s statement(s) about [thing]". Easy formula, works nine times out of ten. Wait, what did you say? By the researches of scientific men, doubts were thrown on the accuracy of that statement? (Ok, tbf, I have no idea whether there are proper studies about the honesty of politicians and I'm too lazy to look that up and wade through the minefield of propaganda and pseudoscience to get to a good answer.)

luckily in the U.S a foot is standardized by the footlong at subway

@tonyjones9442

3 жыл бұрын

Didnt they get caught out though for selling subs that were 11"?

@ryaningham5374

3 жыл бұрын

So it's well under a foot?

@thiccaxe

3 жыл бұрын

Ryan Ingham no it’s THE foot

@tonyjones9442

3 жыл бұрын

@@ryaningham5374 12 inches in a foot. 5280 feet in a mile.

@prometheus7387

3 жыл бұрын

Oof

The biggest surprise in this video for me was the Subway sandwich actually being a foot long.

@hii-people2245

3 жыл бұрын

@Bill Whittaker And they'd get prosecuted by the court of public opinion

@peter_smyth

3 жыл бұрын

In the UK, with certain exceptions (eg draught beer), things have to be sold in metric units. Imperial units can also be added, but not in larger font than the metric. That means you aren't buying a 4 pint bottle of milk, but 2.272 L. I guess Subway gets away with a footlong by saying that's the name of the size, not its actual length.

@drabberfrog

3 жыл бұрын

@Bill Whittaker Subway got sued over their footlong being only 11 inches long but they managed to get away with it. What is the point of false advertising laws if you can directly say that the sandwich is larger than it actually is? Why not say it's a 3-ft sandwich if they can get away with it being larger than it actually is? Why not say a car has 100 more horsepower than it actually does? If that's the precedent then why does any other standard matter?

@unclejoeoakland

3 жыл бұрын

In Britain. Here in the US and A they're allowed to lie because commercials aren't given under deposition.

@runarandersen878

3 жыл бұрын

unclejoeoakland : Just as, at least in Norway, big companies can advertise and name food as “homemade”. Because apparently the public understands it isn’t.

And to this day no one on tinder or grindr knows how long an inch is...

@ccarson

3 жыл бұрын

However long an inch is I have 7 of them, honest.

@strxtch3358

3 жыл бұрын

@@ccarson Breh.

@Bruh-hq1hx

3 жыл бұрын

@@ccarson then i declare one inch to be 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 micrometers

@ilarious5729

3 жыл бұрын

Grindr be like that yea, I haven't seen the same in Tinder though, it's more PG at least here in Finland (and Spain, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Estonia) oops I might have just revealed my slutiness and collection of EU dicks to everyone reading this.

@zaidlacksalastname4905

3 жыл бұрын

@@ccarson I trust ya ;)

As a machinist, what has always fascinated me is how machinery (whether in Imperial or Metric units) can be made accurate to such small measurements. For example, our CNC machines are considered accurate and repeatable to .0001" (or .00254 mm). So, there must be some machine out there that can hold a tolerance tighter than .0001" in order to make a machine that can repeat that small of a measurement with accuracy. So, how do they make THAT machine accurate? (and so on & so on...)

@leakingamps2050

7 ай бұрын

It's possible to combine less-accurate machines to make a more accurate one - hand-powered tools were used to make screws that were accurate within 1/1000th of an inch well before electronics. There's a lot of cool hacks you can do to improve precision with multiple less-precise tools. Same goes for flat surfaces.

@randomaster138

6 ай бұрын

very carefully.

Only Tom would measure the length of a sandwich using a brass plaque.

@denysatrio1678

3 жыл бұрын

ah yes, brass plaque long sandwich

@applehack97

3 жыл бұрын

5 brass plaque lettuce

@kruks

3 жыл бұрын

I'm willing to bet many people have. I'd arbitrarily wager thousands.

@CaveyMoth

3 жыл бұрын

If only one could set an SI unit for toastedness.

@rannov.4707

3 жыл бұрын

@@CaveyMoth Time to make (an unofficial) one then. You could probably construct something based on the volume, mass and burning temperature of the object (bread)

For those 21 years, men were very generous with their 'measurements'.

@eebrohim7001

3 жыл бұрын

@M Detlef ok femcel

@erdling3132

3 жыл бұрын

@@eebrohim7001 ok incel

@eebrohim7001

3 жыл бұрын

@@erdling3132 ok incel

@philipyates3194

3 жыл бұрын

​@@eebrohim7001 Enough children, I'm sure you both disappoint equally as well.

@philipyates3194

3 жыл бұрын

@@erdling3132 Enough children, I'm sure you both disappoint equally as well.

Tom Scott is one of those KZread gems you come across every once in a while. You get a sense of satisfaction from his videos

@useruserov8668

3 жыл бұрын

I like complimentary comments like this one.

@h4lplays932

3 жыл бұрын

@@useruserov8668 me too

@mareksicinski3726

10 ай бұрын

please dont idolise you should never be satisfied, you should have some critical quesion

@saltedmutton7269

7 ай бұрын

@@mareksicinski3726 actually having any questions ever is illegal, please don't idolise them

"At some point it has to stop." Nah, it's calibration all the way up.

@gspinoza

3 жыл бұрын

No, you calibrate only to a certain step. Then, when you are comparing with the definition of the unit, be it an artifact or a physical constant, the calibration chain stops.

@burnttoast6974

3 жыл бұрын

@@gspinoza it was a joke

Always used to catch up with a friend at that plaque - I never forgot where to metre

@LiquidSandwich

3 жыл бұрын

Take my like and get out

@hamiltoneuzarraga6546

3 жыл бұрын

Oh you

@realcartoongirl

3 жыл бұрын

i don't get it

@Alpha8713

3 жыл бұрын

Did you travel there on foot?

@squamespeach7258

3 жыл бұрын

Did you find her in the yard? Did you have to wait furlong?

"the US capitol building is older than the parliment building behind me" How many other lies have I been told by the Jedi council?

@willowarkan2263

3 жыл бұрын

Those are in fact the droids you are looking for?

@paulqueripel3493

3 жыл бұрын

A bit of it's older. Westminster hall dates from 1097, the roof's newer, about 1400. It's not in shot through. The rest of it was destroyed by fire in the 1830s, and the bit you can't see behind him because of all the scaffolding was built over the next 20 (approx) years.

@guysmiley7289

3 жыл бұрын

@@paulqueripel3493 To be fair England burned down our US Capitol and White House in 1814 so it's not THAT much older.

@paulqueripel3493

3 жыл бұрын

@@guysmiley7289 sorry about that.

@davidioanhedges

3 жыл бұрын

@@guysmiley7289 They were gutted by fire, by the British forces, who were mostly Canadian, commanded by an Irishman

Having to hire a group of scientists to fix the entire country's measurement system because they messed up, then proceeding to ignore almost all of their recommendations except the quick fix to the most glaring mistake in favour of business as usual, is a perfect summary of the British political system.

- There has to be an organisation, who's job it is to say: "You don't need to calibrate any more" - * sad Garrus noises *

@allandnothing5338

2 жыл бұрын

The Garrus jokes never get old...

this is like when the teacher loses their answer key and has to recreate it based off the best students' tests

@tappaiden

3 жыл бұрын

Or just take the test, they must be a shitty teacher if they don’t even know the material they’re teaching

@BohdanMelnychuk

3 жыл бұрын

@@tappaiden knowing is one thing, being not lazy enough is another

@tappaiden

3 жыл бұрын

@@BohdanMelnychuk I mean think about the implications. Best Students are a good source of "good enough" knowledge of the subject, but to just bite the bullet and take the test will give you a 100% correct answer key.

@Bogdanko93

3 жыл бұрын

@@tappaiden you are assuming the teacher will not make any mistakes during test

@tappaiden

3 жыл бұрын

@@Bogdanko93 Why would they make mistakes? Unlike students, in the case of fuzziness or incorrectness they can just find the answers online.

I can only imagine what else has been measured against that plaque.

@qwerty_and_azerty

3 жыл бұрын

😏

@---cr8nw

3 жыл бұрын

Tom should just be grateful the plaque is higher than waist-high.

@happyheals3755

3 жыл бұрын

@@qwerty_and_azerty i hate azerty. had to buy my qwerty online since no shops sold them

@qwerty_and_azerty

3 жыл бұрын

Happy Heals cool story bruh

@fuji420

3 жыл бұрын

@@---cr8nw Depends how tall you are

What amazes me most about this video is that a Subway foot-long sandwich is actually a foot long. :O

3:03 “Reestablishers of the Lost Units” is my favourite Indiana Jones film

Plot twist: to this day, still nobody outside the UK and US knows what an inch is.

@mrcaboosevg6089

3 жыл бұрын

A lot of people still use imperial measurements out of choice. Just because a country is metric doesn't mean people in it entirely use the system. Canada is a good example of that, even the UK is legally metric but it's not like that matters

@arristocrat6414

3 жыл бұрын

Except all the people who play Dungeons and Dragons.

@ezrapetty9666

3 жыл бұрын

@@mrcaboosevg6089 in the uk, everything is metric but miles, miles per hour, and height measurements. Some scales for people still used stone (eg I know my weight more as 10 stone than 60 something kg) but I personally can visually picture a meter better than a foot

@Lugmillord

3 жыл бұрын

I just remember "about two and a half cm". Close enough.

@jonathanguthrie9368

3 жыл бұрын

@@ezrapetty9666 So, the UK is about as metric as the USA is. Good to know.

"Why yes, it's 10 inches, and you can't prove me wrong!"

@eX1st4132

3 жыл бұрын

m i n e s 2 0

@Ava-cw3jf

3 жыл бұрын

Xander millimeters?

@eX1st4132

3 жыл бұрын

@@Ava-cw3jf meters

@Ava-cw3jf

3 жыл бұрын

Xander nanometres?

@captainpakistan9193

3 жыл бұрын

Ava STOP! you’ll kill him

The British gun trade standardized on their own Enfield inch in the 1840s, which wasn't the same as the Imperial inch that was standardized 10 years later. The Australians found out the hard way that an inch isn't always an inch when they bought tooling from Pratt and Whitney in the US to make their guns and discovered that screws wouldn't interchange with the British made guns.

Very interesting. I worked for a number of years in the Metrology Group of what was then the Defence Standards Laboratory in Australia. At the time, the Laboratory was responsible for the Australian Standard Metre, which was then defined in terms of the wavelength of the orange-red emission line of krypton-86. At that time, the US/UK/Commonwealth had adopted the International yard as exactly 0.9144m. We still had many working standards based on the old Imperial Inch and also standardised at 62F, rather than the later 68F/20C. In my final few months in Metrology Group i was responsible for comparing secondary standards to the primary standard of length.

A measurement isnt something you know or discover, it is something you declare.

@TheRealFlenuan

3 жыл бұрын

well, other than the fundamental constants

@2712animefreak

3 жыл бұрын

Even then the unit you define is arbitrary. They could've used any other fraction of a second to define the base unit of length.

@olmostgudinaf8100

3 жыл бұрын

@@2712animefreak Not to mention that a second itself is also an arbitrary unit ;)

@m4jorbeat

3 жыл бұрын

What about Planck's quantum of action

@Aim54Delta

3 жыл бұрын

@@m4jorbeat Well, that kind of works. .... Kind of... Because it is so small that we are still not entirely sure if our calculations of its value are accurate given the margin of error for the measurements they are derived from. More recently, the length of a meter was tied to the wavelength of a noble gas, if memory serves correctly. The idea of a meter is nice - and the metric units work well for engineering purposes. But they are still difficult to originate. IE - if I tossed you onto a habitable planet with nothing more than the shirt on your back, could you give people a definition of a meter that would allow your descendants to, one day, reconstruct a meter exactly? The answer is "no" - unless it is derived from some kind of physical constant arising from nature. And it can only be a single value - if it requires a "second" - then we need to also be able to accurately reproduce a second no matter where we are in the universe. Even then, it requires a high degree of technology to create - the ability to isolate gasses and metals, as well as produce lasers and interferometers ... And vacuums. Even so, there is a margin of error that comes into play with that measurement. It gets to such a point that one must wonder if the heisenberg uncertainty principle works in ways we didn't immediately suspect with similar problems coming into play when trying to pin down a fixed unit of length.

Imperial users: "Wait, it's Metric?" Metric: "Always has been..."

@jasonpatterson8091

3 жыл бұрын

Imperial users with half a clue: Already knew that it was based on metric.

@martialme84

3 жыл бұрын

@@jasonpatterson8091 oxymoron much?

@Samuel-oh3hm

3 жыл бұрын

Over used meme format 🙄

@varana

3 жыл бұрын

@@Samuel-oh3hm Being overused is a requirement for a meme format. :D

@Dz73zxxx

3 жыл бұрын

So instead of m1911 metric will go enfield type 2 revolver? Yes indeed

Wow. . .I had no idea on the scale of Parliament's size until you took this video of it with the scaffolding. It's huge!

This is also where the phrase: “Something is afoot” Came from. True story

I feel like 2020 is covered in scaffolding.

@vicklemiss

3 жыл бұрын

Ha good point!

@nikosaarinen3258

3 жыл бұрын

But that implies that domething is still being prepared

@hedgie9823

3 жыл бұрын

@@nikosaarinen3258 OH NO

@ZachariahMBaird

3 жыл бұрын

And then the scaffolding made the building burn down. Like Notre Dame. Or St. Paul's.

@vicklemiss

3 жыл бұрын

Zachariah M. Baird 😳😳😳

These videos remind me of a time in primary school when you'd learn all sort of random fun things. Watching these videos is like going home.

@Agent_

3 жыл бұрын

200th like

@certifiedbrit7598

3 жыл бұрын

Me too, sad tbh

@idkman-rr3bm

3 жыл бұрын

You mean like going to school?

@certifiedbrit7598

3 жыл бұрын

@@idkman-rr3bm you don't learn in school when they teach you the same thing in curriculum over and over for 13 years, you learn thanks to the teachers going on tangents with there own knowledge or students.

@James27Simko

3 жыл бұрын

Sad that you think learning is only for being a child...

That's okay Tom. Most people here in the states where we use the standard cant even read a tape measure

@YouthfulOne

Жыл бұрын

Sad but true. The level of illiteracy in basic mathematics and language is embarrassing. When I was raising kids I chose to homeschool. Who would have guessed that at 16 they could enter college and know more than their peers even 5-10 years older. It was a challenge at the time but in hindsight I’m glad I did.

@ergo2919

Жыл бұрын

@@thefalloutlord what does your cousin having Down syndrome have anything to do with most people’s illiteracy, are you calling your cousin dumb? I’m confused what this is even supposed to mean

21 years??!!?!? they coulda just pulled down my pants to find out how long an inch is

Tom’s videos always give me information I didn’t know I needed

@rhysdenno5993

3 жыл бұрын

Or I know I don't need. But that's sometimes the best kind :)

@jhayanraeperalta6862

3 жыл бұрын

But instead of getting annoyed you get intrigued

@vicklemiss

3 жыл бұрын

Exactly!

@JakeOBeer

3 жыл бұрын

Ski Bum420 no, I need it!!!! It sustains me

@eamonahern7495

3 жыл бұрын

@@skibum4207 25.4mm = 1 inch could come in handy in some jobs and engineering courses where you need to be ready for both European and American jobs market so technically it's possible they might need some information from this video some day.

I appreciate that your sticking to filming videos for you channel safely as you define on your website. Godspeed Tom!

Great video. I do love the fact that Imperial length measurements are now based on metric calibration.

It always amazes me how long Tom can go without a single "um", "uh", or other verbal flub.

@andersonrobotics5608

3 жыл бұрын

Large amount of retakes probably

@ClokworkGremlin

3 жыл бұрын

Practice.

@elimg.3684

3 жыл бұрын

@@andersonrobotics5608 Probably just being very aware of what to say next

@RFC-3514

3 жыл бұрын

As someone who has recently been working on on-line lectures, I'm amazed by some people's ability to say _nothing but_ "um" and "ah" for sometimes up to 30 seconds in a row.

@---cr8nw

3 жыл бұрын

If you know your subject matter thoroughly enough (or prepare your notes well enough), you don't need to pause between words and phrases while your brain is figuring out what to say next.

Well in Pakistan(or atleast my city) we've an extremely weird mix and match of systems... We use Metres, Feet and Gaz(our native unit) for measuring cloth Fahrenheit for Body Temperature, Celsius for everything else Kilometers for Distance, Inches for Height, Yards for Buildings, Miles for Idioms(lmao) Litres for Milk, Gallon for Water Kilogram/Gram usually, Pounds for Cakes and Babies, Tola(our native unit) for Gold, Chitaank(our native unit) for Spices It's a pain -_-

@uraniumbolt7594

2 жыл бұрын

That sounds like such a headache 😭

@dagnytaggart639

2 жыл бұрын

To me your method sounds marvelously nimble & open minded.

@Zraknul

2 жыл бұрын

In Canada we run into the exciting problem of "British or American?" Volume measures are not the same, and they do not convert into other units by the same factor. Ie: an American and British fluid ounce vary by about 1.1 mL, and then convert into a pint by a factor of 16 or 20. Which then varies by about 95 mL. Going from ounce to gallon is times 128 or 160, so they then vary by about 750 mL! Historically we used British imperial measures before switching to metric and today we encounter American units, so you have to guess based on the age.

@justayoutuber1906

2 жыл бұрын

Is that where a Gazillion comes from...

@holyvlogs4366

2 жыл бұрын

Same in india

In Australia when they changed from imperial to metric in 1970, it was illegal to sell measuring tapes and devices with imperial markings on them. That soon went by the wayside and you can buy a tape with both standards on it today.

@switchstatement568

2 жыл бұрын

i guess it was to prevent scams

@gardeningdianne

2 жыл бұрын

Alessio M I believe it was the the pollies saying we are going metric and the old imperial system is no longer to be used. It would make it difficult for the people who have only worked with the imperial standard as well. I guess you could say to the pollies, ,give them an inch and they take a mile. Now, what would that be in metric....give them 25.4mm and they take a, bugger, I cannot find my calculator to work the rest out.

Blown away that subway actually sold you a footlong more than anything

Of course you measured a subway sandwich. This is the content we all subscribed for!

@anarchyantz1564

3 жыл бұрын

It's certain other video viewing platforms that measure using something "other" than a sandwich.

Why is no one talking about how Tom is wearing a dark red shirt ? Where did the original one go? I think we need to start a new conspiracy.

@magnushultgrenhtc

3 жыл бұрын

You see, this is what happens when you copy a copy of a red shirt without maintaining the proper colour standard. ;)

@Ross_mo

3 жыл бұрын

the original? hah. Tom has a million red shirts hanging in his wardrobe

@bluej0086

3 жыл бұрын

Or is it raining? and we can't see drops🤔. Would not be far fetched.

@StrangeAndUnusual_

3 жыл бұрын

I think it’s just because it’s softer lighting

@thewanderinggamer1369

3 жыл бұрын

It might be the lighting.

My favorite part of the video was when Tom measured the length of his subway sandwich using an old brass plaque at Trafalgar Square.

For twenty one years dress makers were arguing with their clients over size. I love my tape measures they never lie.

When you forget to set a base case for your recursive function.

@OrigamiMarie

3 жыл бұрын

When your base case was melted in a fire, your backup case was corrupt, and the last stack frame throws a null pointer error :-)

@adilmohammed6897

3 жыл бұрын

Content

So, for a summer job, I worked at a metrology lab. It was kind of cool, they had an isolated bed of foundation to reduce external disruption, it had a specific temp and pressure setup. Normally, we would get a set of weights from someone, measure them as best we could, and then add or subtract mass until the weight would on average show up at the appropriate weight to the documented margin of error. But one time, we got a set of weights that we were not calibrating, but instead, it was a set of weights that got passed between metrology labs across the USA, and everyone kind of did their best to measure it with the highest possible accuracy, and report the average weight, and the standard of deviation of those weighing, and then all the labs would compare notes on the weights and see how they themselves needed to be calibrated to be consistent with each other. . It was really cool stuff, and it instilled a strong belief that a chart of average values was more or less useless without a set of error bars showing the standard of deviation. After all, as the joke goes in general, the average net worth between me and Bill Gates is 56.9 billion dollars.

@DoodleHero

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much for sharing this story! Fascinating stuff!

@dagnytaggart639

2 жыл бұрын

Is that average calculated before or after Melinda Gates divorces him and takes her share? Asking for a friend.

@ThSadomasohista

Жыл бұрын

That's a nice story but how does one simply get a summer job in a metrology lab? You knew someone that worked there or what?

You held that metre in frame perfectly.

i think its ironic that parliment is covered in scaffolding when tom is talking about the time parliment burnt down and was rebuilt.

“Inches... they’re all based in metric now.” As if I, an American (someone who had to keep learning about the metric system in public school and then have never used it up until my college-level classes) didn’t hate the imperial system enough, then I’ve just found a completely new reason to hate it EVEN MORE.

@CaseNumber00

3 жыл бұрын

Until college? Where did you go to school? One of the bible thumper science fearing states?

@WillyTheComposerOfficial

3 жыл бұрын

America uses customary units, not imperial units. They’re actually different.

@ObadiahtheSlim

3 жыл бұрын

We are inching towards metric adoption. My bike needs metric tools. My car too. I buy pharmaceuticals in metric and can even buy soda by the liter.

@jonathanguthrie9368

3 жыл бұрын

Why would you hate it? It's just a system of measurement. It works reasonably well and length, at least, is based on the same physical constants as metric. I've never understood the kind of reflexive ire that talking about inches or pounds inspires in some people.

@integralboi2900

3 жыл бұрын

Jonathan Guthrie It’s unintuitive and makes things harder than they should be.

"Is that all in frame? I've got no idea, I can't see my screen" ... Only perfectly Tom, only perfectly... >.

subway ceo let out a big sigh of relief at this one

for 21 years, men sighed a relief

filming in front of scaffolding about the issues of the exact length of an inch is actually very relevant in a way, so the location is well-chosen ;)

Gotta love Tom's videos. 1) they don't follow trends and dig up actually kind of interesting things from whenever. Kind of refreshing really. You can guarantee no-one was thinking about this when they saw the video, but still clicked on it as it was interesting. 2) The density and simplicity. It's a 5 minute video that contains all the information, in an order to explain it, explains why there might be issues, and also points out that you can measure your subway if you wanted to. No clickbait. No "Like, subscribe, ding the bell". If there's sponsors it's acceptable and relevant. Just enough to have a tea break and go "that was neat". Quite a lot of youtubers would do a 10:01 video on the measurement plaque.

@xEqualsRandom

Жыл бұрын

Also, the fact that he added a correction for typing the wrong fraction, even though none of the viewers probably noticed.

@topilinkala1594

11 ай бұрын

@@xEqualsRandom I noticed. If something is approximately 300000000 then the actuality does not start with 1.

Hi Tom, I love your videos. Random topics but very insightful... Keep making them.

In Malaysia, they decimalised feet. For them there are 10 inches in a foot, with each inch being 30mm.

4:08 That subway sandwich is the star of this video, it made a chuckle a bit😂😂

@akam9919

3 жыл бұрын

I chuckled at a certain other possibility.

@TorreFernand

3 жыл бұрын

Just a chuckle? I laughed so hard they had to come see what was "wrong" ..."they" didn't care for the video though

Europe: cms, meters, km. USA: *Football Field by the wingspan of an eagle*

@SplatterInker

3 жыл бұрын

I mean I'm in the UK and all our road signs are still in Miles, and most people still weigh themselves in Lbs and Ozs, even though they'll weigh out flour in grams. If you want the true metric kings, I hate to say it, but that'll be our French and Canadian friends.

@RazvanMaioru

3 жыл бұрын

@@SplatterInker not really. Canada is also quite imperial in everyday use. The best example of country I know for sure has no real measurements in use other than SI, is Germany.

@Zelmel

3 жыл бұрын

@@SplatterInker Not to mention weighing in "stone" in parts of the UK.

@sociostatic7702

3 жыл бұрын

@Radian Hey! I remember seeing your comment on an Electronic Gems video.

@PKMartin

3 жыл бұрын

Continental Europe: mm, cm, metre, km USA: inch, foot, yard, eagle wingspan, football field, mile UK: mm, cm, inch, Kitkat, foot, metre, double decker bus, Nelson's column, football field, mile, square root of Wales

This video explains why redundancies are important in everything. Not having a spare foot-long rod meant that all measurements for years were off.

Tom Scott is one of the most respectable men I've ever had the pleasure of listening too.

2:00 when I heard Tom saying "the Parliament burned down", all I had in mind was Tom's another famous line: *THE GOAT BURNED DOWN*

Tom talks about the most random things that I never new I wanted to know

@realcartoongirl

3 жыл бұрын

K*

@martialme84

3 жыл бұрын

knew

@amzwl1671

3 жыл бұрын

That’s why it’s called “Things you might not know” ;D

@steviedavidson5130

3 жыл бұрын

*General Kenobi*

Love that you took a potshot at Subway, nicely done.

Fascinating, as always. I love thinking about a model of the standard in every town hall

Wow, I've never seen a video this soon after it's upload

@calebturner007

3 жыл бұрын

I was literally 1 second ago

@calebturner007

3 жыл бұрын

But same here

@Lovicide

3 жыл бұрын

I'm sure Tom Scott has something up his sleeve

@ImRandomDude

3 жыл бұрын

Pinned message: 2 weeks ago... :)

@ad-skyobsidion4267

3 жыл бұрын

only 5 min for me

3:07 Tom: "...the government had put a dodgy experiment into law..." Me: "Uh, huh. Seems about right."

@eevengerz4318

3 жыл бұрын

Flashbacks to what could have been with the Indiana Pi Bill 😂

@graham1034

3 жыл бұрын

@@eevengerz4318 It would be easier for everyone if we could just set Pi to 3.14 rounded off. Not correct, but easier.

@olmostgudinaf8100

3 жыл бұрын

@@eevengerz4318 Except that THAT law did not pass. I believe the OP was talking about _British_ dodgy experiments put into law :(

@WoWhistorian

3 жыл бұрын

Which is funny, because in both the States and the UK, the law had put a dodgy experiment into government!

@GraemePayne1967Marine

3 жыл бұрын

Well, what can we expect when laws are written by professional politicians who have no concept of what Science IS, let alone how it works! I give you the current pandemic situation as a case study.

*sees thumbnail* Confidence in 3inch rod: restored

I’ll make sure you never forget how long an inch is

In America Random person: how long is a foot Other person: *about as long as a subway sandwich*

@bananya6020

3 жыл бұрын

it's over three inches longer than a subway sandwich. they've been getting smaller for a while now

@Ltulrich

3 жыл бұрын

@@bananya6020 Sort of like the Six Dollar Burger at Carl's Jr.

@u-thix2436

3 жыл бұрын

My confusion on this thread is higher than when I smoked blunt

@greaselsnatches848

3 жыл бұрын

it's about 1/300 of a football field foreigner: proceeds with confusion

@TroyVan6654

3 жыл бұрын

@@greaselsnatches848 *1/360

I know exactly how long an inch is from experience.

@rayhib

3 жыл бұрын

Ok, Roblox kid.

@noahleveille366

3 жыл бұрын

:(

@cheesecakelasagna

3 жыл бұрын

F

@Lordosvk

3 жыл бұрын

you must by asian :D

@krashd

3 жыл бұрын

@@adnieman Is that you, Heddy?

I just love your videos Tom. Keep it up 👍🏼

Swedish industrialist Carl Edvard Johansson invented the gauge blocks, and ruled in 1912 an inch to be 2.54 centimetres.

Always surprised me that they recorded standards for length in metal since it is so thermally dynamic until I read that that was taken into consideration and the differences in calibrations in a non-standard ambient temperature were considered so negligible compared to the worry of the standard degrading over time or warping in truth (linear accuracy) that it was the lesser of two evils. Plus you can't have coo't sandwich measuring displays lasting a long time in the open like that. One day I would like to actually like to check it out for myself.

@Nyx773

Жыл бұрын

3:59 Be sure it's 62F when you are at Trafalgar Square

@darylcheshire1618

Жыл бұрын

The Standard Meter in Paris was made of platinum iridium alloy and shaped like X in cross section until the non destructible standard was agreed to. This alloy is impervious to corrosion and presumably wouldn’t expand much and was kept at standard temperatire. There was also a standard kilogram. Would be expensive. Was at Bureau of Standards in Paris in the 1970s.

What I love about Tom's videos is that they are short, sweet, succinct. I see so many YT suggestions that topically I'd love to investigate...but, really, 15, 30, 60 minutes?

little did scott know it was perfectly in frame

Only Tom would be genuinely concerned that his background is covered in scaffolding.

@vegetableman3446

3 жыл бұрын

@Zero Cool rhawgn

@TheDGomezzi

3 жыл бұрын

I think anyone trying to film in a nice-looking location would be concerned about that.

@tabel4844

3 жыл бұрын

This video is about standard measurements.The background shows construction... Construction requires standard measurements.

@ThreadBomb

3 жыл бұрын

@@tabel4844 The building under the scaffold also required standard measures.

At 49 seconds the fraction seems off, the 1 in the denominator shouldn't be there. Stoked to keep watching though :)

@Gehr96

3 жыл бұрын

At 0:49.

@supermatman98

3 жыл бұрын

Aight, seems that Tom fixed this within like 10 minutes. My job here is done. *flies away*

@BlackBird-nn2yc

3 жыл бұрын

you are right, but I get the mistake. if you google "1 meter definition" you get a Featured Snippet from Wikipedia that adds the 1 that is supposed to be on numerator together with the denominator. but I also kept watching after noticing it :P

@honzikjdx7268

3 жыл бұрын

@@BlackBird-nn2yc On DuckDuckGo it's 1/299 792 458, just don't use Google. :)

@BlackBird-nn2yc

3 жыл бұрын

@@honzikjdx7268 no, I like using google and I will not switch because they overlooked a small mistake.

oh! its always inspiring everytime i watch your channel, this video makes me think that you really delivered it to us perfectly ...informative and very shocking history..never know that its really exist since long long long time ago..oh my God. its really soooo interesting.and your ads here in Switzerland..i already drinks 2 cups of coffee but im still here in your ads...a total of 54 mins waiting until i got finish this " FOR 21 YEARS"....imagine i was in Parliament in 1834 for watching more than hour ago. I honestly look the history to checked out who's the famous people who live at that time. And the way you apologized in public if you copied it or not, salute to you my friend. You shared knowledge for all of us, and what ever may result its for us to find out. Just keep on. Have a nice day, watching from here in Switzerland

I love that the title is the last line in the video

2:27. Item No. 2 would have been interesting to see!

Now this is what I’m all about, local measuring points to ensue your sandwich is the correct length

damn they didn’t take the 3-2-1 backup thing into account

Surely the brass gauge can only be accurate at a certain temperature, but no mention of this 🤔 As an apprentice joiner in the 60s I learned a valuable lesson, only use measurements from the same device for that particular job. Tape measures and rules can vary.

@danielhawkins6425

Жыл бұрын

If you're talking about the gauge he used to measure his "foot-long", rewatch and you'll see that the temperature is specified on the plaque as 62°F.

"Is that all in frame? I've got no idea, I can't see my screen." It is, Tom! Well done!

Is it only in this video or is your finishing sentence: "And that might be another thing you don`t know" gone for good. Informative Video as always. Keep it up and keep safe

@d.l.232

3 жыл бұрын

"And that might be another thing you don't know" has been gone for a while.

@solartea_

3 жыл бұрын

Guys, it's the name of the series. Hes been making them constantly

@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721

3 жыл бұрын

He's also wearing shirts that are a slightly darker shade of red than before. So much is changing.

@hazeltree7738

3 жыл бұрын

@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 It was an omen to 2020

Love it. Brilliant. I know a few. Lemmings don't commit suicide, and no a swan can't usually brake your arm!

The intros alone should win awards but the innovativeness of your channel you deserve 20 million subs

Honestly I clicked on this thinking it was an old video I hadnt seen before seeing another comment and realising it came out 5 minutes ago xD

@gordonrichardson2972

3 жыл бұрын

Its new, but Tom does recycle some of his themes: history, units, measurements...

@ocelotmadness6287

3 жыл бұрын

I didnt even realise until I saw this comment

I used to do tours of Ely cathedral. An interesting thing about it is that it was built over the course of many monarchs, and as such the length of measurements changed (as they were based on thinks like arm length of the monarch) and so there are bricks that are different sizes based on how high up the building they are, but they are all technically the same size

They didn't have no idea of how long a meter is, they knew it was longer than a certain point

"The international standard for length is the meter, and it's based" 0:38

@lame_lexem

2 жыл бұрын

"Which means yes, the US and imperial systems of measurement, inches, feet, yards, miles: they're all based"

I just love that major British landmarks all have old imperial unit markers on them for measurements...that’s honestly quite cool. Great video as always Tom, and I can’t wait to see what you cover next!

1:03 “inches, feet, yards, miles. They’re all based”

@eX1st4132

3 жыл бұрын

but are they redpilled?

Love this Tom. I've been explaining historical and current units of measure from around the world to my three daughters. They, like the rest of us, cannot understand why the USA refuse to go metric.

This series should be called things you definitely don't know

Ah, so this is why everyone is always taking a mile.

Me listening to Tom talk about something I never knew or thought about: 👁👄👁

We were so close to losing imperial measurements. So close

What I have learned 1. A subway foot is in fact a foot long 2. There is no 2

Tom, I wish you recorded bedtime story readings. I'd love to fall asleep to that, your voice is nice.

@zaidlacksalastname4905

3 жыл бұрын

No homo but amen