I'll pin this comment here so you don't have to make it again: I get it. Some of you spell it metre, rather than meter. And that makes about as much sense as the definition of the meter itself! PS - Leave it to us Americans, the last holdhouts of non-metric units, to protest the meter by choosing to spell it how we want 😂

@ganaraminukshuk0

7 жыл бұрын

It's Okay To Be Smart I blame successful spelling reform.

@sirmeowthelibrarycat

7 жыл бұрын

It's Okay To Be Smart This is not an intelligent response. You appear to take offence at being corrected in the use of terminology. The word you use refers to a mechanism for measuring power usage or quantity as with electricity or gas. Being American is no defence against errors of any kind. Correct use of language is essential to convey meaning. A little less hubris, a lot more humility please😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡🏛🇬🇧

@MrOktoberfest

7 жыл бұрын

It's Okay To Be Smart Ye, fuk u 'Murica, get with the times and adopt de meter

@DoctorHeisenberg

7 жыл бұрын

Just because in your country it's spelled metre doesn't mean it has to be spelled the same way in the US. Languages are not static objects and the same language in different countries will differ in certain words and spellings after a while. In America it was probably adopted it from German/Dutch/Swedish... immigrants where it's spelled meter (or Meter).

@nomb3179

7 жыл бұрын

It's Okay To Be Smart I though the entire metric system was based on water

HAHA "Les Measurables" AMAZING actually hilarious.

@geordirendum583

7 жыл бұрын

Tungsten Wu its epic xD

@sk8rdman

7 жыл бұрын

Wow. I totally missed that joke.

@JuanoGaleasS

6 жыл бұрын

Yeah, I actually want that poster!

@djleonard14

3 жыл бұрын

i don't get it :/

@baijukuriakose8127

3 жыл бұрын

I dont get it

Based on measurements according to earth's curvature? Suddenly the Flat Earth society hates the metric system

@HelloKittyFanMan.

5 жыл бұрын

Oh shoot, you basically beat me to it!

@ConcreteLand

5 жыл бұрын

The_Pyromancer 🤣🤣🤣

@jimday666

5 жыл бұрын

I lolled

@PixiiGER

5 жыл бұрын

That is why they come from the USA

@Wesley_H

5 жыл бұрын

Hence why America is still not on the Metric system.

It's easy, A meter is 118.11 kernels of barley laid end to end.

@23Khameo

6 жыл бұрын

KINDRED FERGUSON and THAT is how you turn an incomprehensible number into something that makes sense.

@james-ch

6 жыл бұрын

KINDRED FERGUSON metre not meter

@NoThrottle

5 жыл бұрын

James CH miituh not metre

@jakeg3126

5 жыл бұрын

People might barley envy

@FACup-eu2dt

5 жыл бұрын

Do you mean that that, is the official height of a Parking Meter? (If someone actually spent time measuring 0.11 of a barley kernal, they have far too much time on their hands, and should get out more.)

How far is that thing? A mile. What's a mile? 8 furlongs. What's a furlong? 10 chains. What's a chain? 22 yards. What's a yard? 3 feet. What are feet? 12 inches. Ohhhhh, why didn't you just say about 1600 metres in the first place?

@gregedwards1087

5 жыл бұрын

oooooh, 1.609433 mtrs, I did say "about" 1600 mtrs. 😂😂😂😂😂😂

@gregedwards1087

5 жыл бұрын

Just seeing if you were awake Tommi. 😊

@user-qn3ey1fr9r

5 жыл бұрын

1 mile=1609344e15 picometre/picometer

@1977Timp

5 жыл бұрын

A Roman mile was the distance an army fully equipped can walk; that’s why there are milestones..

@squalltheonly

5 жыл бұрын

Meter is stupid. You cant use your body to measure it, but to measure feet you can use your feet.

Totally expecting comments to be filled with arguments about why America doesn't use metric. Instead we got arguments about spelling. Welcome to the internet.

@PurpleObscuration

5 жыл бұрын

A message to my American friends, if you can make change for 10 dollars with pennies, dimes and dollars you already know the metric system. Here's the breakdown; one meter has 1000 units, 10 dollars has 1000 units (pennies) 1000 millimeters in 1 meter - pennies 100 centimeters in 1 meter - dimes 10 decimeters in 1 meter - dollars [EDIT] if we got rid of nickels and quarters, we would be using the metric system/ 10 base with our monetary system.

@gyozakeynsianism

5 жыл бұрын

Buck ey That means you know the decimal system, not the metric system. Or, how to multiply or divide things by 10.

@gabrieleporru4443

4 жыл бұрын

Well, I mean, at least that's surprising, wich is not bad by itseld. Am I wrong?

@genelomas332

3 жыл бұрын

@@gyozakeynsianism the metric system IS base -10 dude.. It's simple, logical and arguably more accurate than imperial. Especially at the very small.

@briaiguess8834

3 жыл бұрын

@@PurpleObscuration *CONFUSION*

Europeans: "Let's invent a measurement system that's logical and makes perfect sense!" Imperials: "We shall do the exact opposite!"

@mrfuriouser

6 жыл бұрын

John Smith Wrong. They wanted measurements capable of being figured by regular people without using tools.

@AtomicReverend

5 жыл бұрын

It's cause you people's cans use your toes to counts all themselves numbers... Unlike the imperial system that requires you to have a basic understanding of fractional math. Nah seriously, who cares? The Imperial system has been around a small bit longer then the metro system but realistically they two systems grew up together in Europe and the states. The big issue is cost of conversion here in the USA,. We have 320,000,000+ people that have used the USA imperial system and have been using it for 230ish years as a nation while most of the world was still using thier own form of measurement. We copied the most powerful nation in the world at that time which was the UK. Empire... The UK eventually lost power and were next door neighbors to the metric system so they adopted the metric system. Meanwhile back in the States we become one of the most developed nations in human history with literally millions of miles of roads and billions of nuts and bolts (which were standarized in thread pitch before metric hardware was I believe) so here we are about 100 years later and here in the states all of our infrastructure is bas d on SAE or aka imperial system... It's the same damn thing... 28 grams in an once, or 3.78 liters in s gallon. 100km is 62 miles an hour... Realistically it takes about 3 days driving to get used to either system. Although I have to admit kilometers screw up my internal clock when I am gaging distance. Pardon any typos except my first sentence where I was poking fun of a measurement system that promotes using your fingers and toes.

@AtomicReverend

5 жыл бұрын

Serious question, when I was growing up in the 1980s and teachers were pushing metric on us as part of the Carter administration's plan for metricfication of the USA why did we learn about decimeters and nobody actually uses it in measurement as an example

@canyadigit6274

5 жыл бұрын

America doesn’t use the imperial system, kiddo.

@AtomicReverend

5 жыл бұрын

Fermion Physics you do realize that the "UNITED STATES. CUSTOMARY UNIT" is sometimes referred to as the imperial system" or the "US imperial system" You also know that the British changed thier system in 1824 where the USA did not keeping the older Imperial system hence the name Imperial system. I am sorry if you couldn't figure out which system I was referring to considering I clearly stated I was in the USA. Oh and since we are on the subject the British system is sometimes referred to as British Imperial system. It's the damnedest thing kiddo.

Who would win? A measurement based on earth and light speed... Or Some body parts.

@leoriso

4 жыл бұрын

It is not based on light speed..

@e.f.g.v.4496

4 жыл бұрын

Both

@physicswithabuhuraira8676

3 жыл бұрын

Based on earth and speed of light. because we have to explore the universe in physics not the human body

@jichusTea

3 жыл бұрын

Meh

@totalynotcatherine

3 жыл бұрын

Feetz.

Rest of the world: 1 kilometer= 1000 meters 1 meter= 10 decimeters 1 decimeter= 10 centimeters 1 centimeter= 10 milimeters 1 milimeter= 1000 micrometers 1 micrometer= 1000 nanometers ..... US: 1 mile= 1760 yards 1 yard= 3 feet 1 foot= 12 inches 1 inch= 8 1/8 inch?? 1 ????= ????? Error 404! Sense not found!

@daffavirwandy7694

3 жыл бұрын

Yeet.

@masac2853

3 жыл бұрын

Arolema Prarath was

@louf7178

3 жыл бұрын

So you talked about conversion within, but it misses the usefulness of the measure. In many cases IP is much more intuitive in relation to humans.

@Nasox

3 жыл бұрын

@@louf7178 but it is extremely harmful for a lot of things also

@samuels.4834

3 жыл бұрын

1 inch is actully 3 grains

I wish we used metric system here in USA. I work in construction and it seems like such an easier system if everyone got used to it.

@cristianverdugogalaz8725

7 жыл бұрын

it'll take a couple of years for peaple to change to it, but is a good investment in the long run

@onecommunistboi

6 жыл бұрын

The same thing is true for base 10 and base 12. Everyone uses base 10 but in daily life base 12 would be much easier to use than base 10. For example 1/3 would be 0.4 rather than 0.3333333333333 up to infinity. You get my point.

@Dracadin

6 жыл бұрын

And if you want to convert to smaller parts its easier to divide by 10 (just move point or comma or whatever you use) then by 12. You get my point :)

@onecommunistboi

6 жыл бұрын

Dracadin If we were using base 12 then dividing by 12 would be the same as dividing by 10 (in base 10). In fact 12 written in base 12 is just 10.

@Dracadin

6 жыл бұрын

Ok I didnt know that thanks for clearing that out.

the meter isnt really "wrong" today with speed of light measure, a meter has no objectvity, we made it , and we matched it to something in nature.

@EllieMaes-Grandad

2 жыл бұрын

A 'meter' is a device for measuring; a 'metre' is a unit of measurement.

@TheReaper569

2 жыл бұрын

@@EllieMaes-Grandad ok go away now

@Persun_McPersonson

Жыл бұрын

@@EllieMaes-Grandad It depends on what dialect of English you use. US English does not typically distinguish the two in spelling (though you can if you want to), and neither does the entirety of French, the language of the country that the metric system came from. You're nothing but an overly-pedantic dickhead.

@EllieMaes-Grandad

Жыл бұрын

@@Persun_McPersonson A fancy (and insulting) way to tell us you will endorse inaccuracy, perhaps because you don't know the correct concepts?

@bobjeaniejoey

Жыл бұрын

Matched in nature? Most people believe that because that is what they are told to believe, like good little sheeple. The meter was matched to 1/299,792,458 of the distance that light travels in one second. All that they did there was to find which fraction of light speed distance traveled to fit their original meter measurement and pronounced it to be the meter. They could almost as easily have called the meter some fraction of the distance that a Silent But Deadly fart travels from hole to nose in one second. That speed seems to universally be the same as that of light.

Yea people invented all measurements but something just feels good when 1 L = 1 Kg = 1 dm3 when it comes to water at 5 degrees

@ManDudeYeah

5 жыл бұрын

5 degrees what? C or F?

@dustinmajo9897

5 жыл бұрын

Actually 4°C... Water has it's lowest density at 4 degree Celsius.

@SeedlingNL

5 жыл бұрын

@ManDudeYeah : °F is just another imperial unit that is weirdly based on the metric system. The right question should be, °C or °K. (Kelvin is the actual metric unit of temperature, °C is merely offset so that 0 °C = 273.15 °K.

@drunksanta1427

5 жыл бұрын

there is no "degrees" kelvin, its just 200 Kelvin or 200 K. Why is this? Unsure, but its true

@coolguyslmda2809

5 жыл бұрын

Water has the highest density at 4 Celsius,that's why there is water under ice in frozen lakes.

Dang! For them trying to calculate it that long ago and get it almost right is amazing and impressive! 😱

@zigisamblak

Жыл бұрын

Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the world to 99.5% accuracy in 250BC, so he was 2000 years ahead of them and only slightly less accurate.

Why do people care so much about the spelling of meter/metre? Oh, yeah... This is the internet, I almost forgot.

@mortyjames5897

7 жыл бұрын

One spelling is barbaric, and one spelling is the objectively correct way of spelling it.

@william41017

7 жыл бұрын

Flowey The Flower he must have a boring and empty life, so that's his way of feeling well about himself

@danbott81

7 жыл бұрын

Tarso Felix Apparently people were getting their heads cut off over what it actually was long before anyone argued about the spelling. The internet just makes it easier to argue over long distances, the argument has always been there lol

@mortyjames5897

7 жыл бұрын

+Flowey The Flower +william41017 It's called banter, guys, not everyone understands it but that's ok.

@greyarea6688

7 жыл бұрын

Not being able to spell correctly is stupid, stupid.

0:49 That's not what Europe looked like in 1789 😅

@GandWizard

4 жыл бұрын

Well spotted! A modern map was used - the Dutch already made a polder in Flevoland, which happened in the 1950s and 60s: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flevoland

2:18 "...First they had to agree on the lenght of a second" *Jefferson slaps head*

@michaelleyland9836

5 жыл бұрын

is that lenght or length....just saying like.

@NinjaPedroX

5 жыл бұрын

But who decided how long a second is? *VSauce music plays*

@robertwarner5963

3 жыл бұрын

WE have 60 seconds in a minute because that matches the pulse of a healthy, adult male. For example, my resting pulse is 56 beats per minute, but I am willing to go along with the masses. 60 is also to divide by mental math into multiples of: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 15, 20 and 30. Nautical miles are 6040 which can be abbreviated to do mental calculations of time and distance. A foot used to be the length of the king's foot. A yard was the distance between the king's nose and his out-stretched fingertip.

Truth is, it doesn't matter one iota how the meter (or metre!) was established. ANY convenient length will do. All that matters is that it can be easily and very accurately re-creatable in the lab. Which it now is. 😊

@hamidrana085

4 ай бұрын

you missed the "All that meters" pun. i hate you.

The metric system when it comes to working with physics is a god send since its always 10/100/1000 etc. Unlike imperial measurements who makes the eyes bleed. Its easy converting a meter into a kilometer or 100 kilometers but doing so with yards and miles, not so much. Going from miles, to yards to inches even less fun of a task.

My favorite metric unit? Instagram

@nyunno

7 жыл бұрын

lul

@ganaraminukshuk0

7 жыл бұрын

It's Okay To Be Smart Ehh, I'm more a fan of the anagram.

@thermic4569

7 жыл бұрын

xD

@genghiskhan6688

7 жыл бұрын

dear america, plz, adopt the metric system regards, everyone EVERY ONE

@aviralrastogi

7 жыл бұрын

It's Okay To Be Smart Hey, could you make another video like this one in which you describe where other units came from and how they are related like gram? Interestingly I was thinking about metre's definition as speed of light just last week.

Curious side-note: Decimal Time wasn't a failure, it was killed because of several reasons that hadn't anything to see with the length of a second (because it wasn't defined yet), minutes or hours; but the fact that clocks were an awfully expensive luxury that almost nobody could afford (specially after the war and the revolution), watchmakers refused to decimalise the clocks because that would mean to trash their entire stocks and they would have to work from zero in an unknown field for them (create new engines, new mechanisms, & so on), the fathers of Decimal Time were dead in the fisrt 10 years of decimal time so there was no one to defend it, religious authorities refused to decimalise because it was linked to the anti-clerical revolution and there was also the counter-revolution and the fact that 24h dials were extremely rare because of the hardness of its making (that's why almost every old building has always either a dial of 12 or 6 hours and only the most expensive, rich buildings had an astronomical 24h dial; that made people have to adapt to the dial of 12 hours and even if nowadays it's cheap to buy 24h analogue clocks, they're rare because we used to the 12h dial because of the very scarceness of a 24h clock). And not to forget a big reason too: printing new measurements or creating the big K wasn't difficult compared to create an enterily new machine to tell time, let alone using a dial of 24h which was hard to make and unusual; besides the lack of official support also killed decimal time. Official support is needed to encourage people to use a system, otherwise they won't even try it because people don't like to change customs and traditions. Decimal Time could have been our modern day to measure time if it wasn't for all these reasons that doomed it; at least there's still a decimalist community in internet that pleads for the decimalisation of our crazy time measurements and simplifying it. lnk.bio/r0AQ

@zigisamblak

Жыл бұрын

Having a base-12 system for time (and angles) is better anyway since 12 is the most dividable number. If we used base-12 for numbers like the babylonians did life would be better.

@Joridiy

Жыл бұрын

@@zigisamblak I totally agree with you 144% (100 dozenal), but since all our measure systems are in decimal, it'd be easier to decimalize time instead of docenalize everything else (even though it'd be better)

A decimal day would make physics calculations a hell of a lot easier.

@bxdanny

3 жыл бұрын

But daily life harder. The French tried it, and it didn't work. Physicists can do the needed unit conversions a lot more easily than average people can.

@rebeccaanderson5626

3 жыл бұрын

@@bxdanny hey the metric system will make your life much easier . No need to convert just yeet that trash I mean imperial system in the dustbin where it belongs

@Wanted797

3 жыл бұрын

@@bxdanny nearly all Australians disagree. We mostly talk in metric terms for everything (exceptions would be a persons height or babies weight)

@bxdanny

3 жыл бұрын

@@Wanted797 They don't use metric time ("a decimal day") in Australia or anywhere else. For multiples of years and for fractions of seconds, yes. But days remain divided into hours, minutes and seconds, and grouped into weeks or months.

@aeaeeaoiauea

2 жыл бұрын

But that's because you humans _count_ in decimal. You could've at least chose what you call duodecimal, and you would've made daily _and_ not daily calculations easier.

"This is a meter" Americans "wut iz metur?"

@ganaraminukshuk0

7 жыл бұрын

Tuneless Steak A meter is the thing that measures how much electrulicity you use, duh.

@MustObeyTheRules

7 жыл бұрын

Tuneless Steak " come here kid, let me tell you about a magical thing called yards"

@sp00kyskellybum67

7 жыл бұрын

noe a miter iz a ting fer meshurenk howe fazt i cen wonk

@Szobiz

7 жыл бұрын

joe Costello for the nonsense it is it can only be magical and live on american's head

@bootblacking

7 жыл бұрын

Hi, I'm an American, and I'm well aware of what a meter is. Yes, the metric system is a better, more intuitive, system of measurements. No, I wasn't raised using it and my work is not in science or engineering so no, I don't use it except when referring to sodas, ammunition, or drugs. Really, we only seem to like metric when it makes us fat, armed, or high.

1 Meter is 100 Centimeter

@foalspreshow

7 жыл бұрын

fork spoon wow are you a scientist

@ganaraminukshuk0

7 жыл бұрын

fork spoon A meter is 1/1000th a kilometer.

@irekin2

7 жыл бұрын

The 7th meter

@the7th494

7 жыл бұрын

It's spelt metre!

@_KnZed_

7 жыл бұрын

1 centimeter is 10 millimeter 1 millimeter is 1000 micrometer 1 micrometer is 1000 nano-meter 1 nano-meter is 1000 pico-meter

"Who invented the meter?" Pretty sure it was a guy named Miles.

"Les Mesurables" -- WOW ! That's world class wordplay right there.

@ that last bit The reason we say y'all should switch to the metric system isn't because the meter is based on some magical universal law. It's because the metric system makes sense in terms of conversions. 1 meter is 0.001 kilometers is 100 centimeters is 1000 millimeters. Imperial is... A whole mess of 1 mile is 5280 feet, while a foot is 12 inches and heaven forbid you can go smaller than an inch, cause why would you, right?

@nadzianyx

7 жыл бұрын

In carpentry, we go smaller than an inch all the time. There's 1/2", 1/4", 1/8", 1/16", 1/32", 1/64", ... _So_ much better than the metric system. jk

@GreatGazukes

7 жыл бұрын

Ah yes, when your 3/4'' drill bit is just a shade too large, the next one to try is.....hmmmm 4 into 64 goes 16, times 3 is 48, minus 1 is 47/64....or maybe try a 23/32 or 11/16???

@Hommededarwin

7 жыл бұрын

Yeah, no. It is nice because we are use to it, but it doesnt make much sense... You could do the same with meters (0,010cm, etc...) and don't have five million weird fraction

@Nosirt

6 жыл бұрын

"3/4'' drill bit is just a shade too large" then the drilling you need is probably wrong because companies know they need to make it in terms of what is good or possible. I have never seen a 99 cm drill or 98 or 27 or what ever arbatury number. Its always 1cm ot 10 cm or 25 or 50 as its is most useful. Are suggesting there are 100 drills for all cm from 1-100?

@canyadigit6274

5 жыл бұрын

Ziorac so you’re saying that the math for customary is too hard for ya? 1 yard=3 feet isn’t calculus, kid. If you are having problems multiplying by 3, then you need to go back to 1st grade.

When you sneak out in the window late at night just to "Meter".

@ayushmanthapa_onion

7 жыл бұрын

Zoreign Dear haha nise

@takshashila2995

5 жыл бұрын

Finally got the Joke after a Year.Saved from whoosh. #1453#Prayforcontantinopole

@Ethan5I5

4 жыл бұрын

Culpable Injustice I don’t get it

i wish it was exactly 1/300,000,000th of the distance light travels in a second.

When he said the triangles were connected it would have also been funny if he had Link from Legend of Zelda hold up the Triforce! Hahahahaha!

that's pretty impressive they were able to calculate the distance from the poles to the equator that accurately

@drakesmith471

Жыл бұрын

They probably did something akin to what Eratosthenes did. Measured the earth’s curvature from some given latitude compared to another and measure and figured the proportion of this. They decided “a million pieces it shall be. Now how to get that accurately, that’s a bit more difficult to say.

@zigisamblak

Жыл бұрын

@@drakesmith471 No Eratosthenes did it with shadows, the French did it by measuring angles. He was 2000 years ahead of them and 99.5% accurate.

@drakesmith471

Жыл бұрын

@@zigisamblak oof. I think I hadn’t watched the full vid yet when I put that comment there. Thanks for correcting me though. The ingenuity of one guy and his trusty stick in the sand.

@zigisamblak

Жыл бұрын

@@drakesmith471 No worries. :D

@drakesmith471

Жыл бұрын

@@zigisamblak :D

Still better than this strange mile, yard and inches thing ^^

Excellent program (video) and expertly narrated. Well done!

The narrative is balls-crushingly hilarious, and I love this way of explaining things. Nucler thumbs UP!

"Les measùrable" haha dad joke approved, from a Frenchie.

He could've mentioned the meridian surveys in Ecuador and Scandinavia that were concurrent and part of the attempt of the meter's definition. It's a great piece of academic achievement

Metrology and all closely related topics (geodesy, navigation systems, geodetic datums etc.) are some of my favorite areas of science!

@Okay To Be Smart As a french I like the way you introduce things! It was not the first one video I watch from your channel, you're amazing! Thanks!

"The real story is full of discovery, deception and a lot of people getting their heads cut off" -Joe Hanson, Feb 28, 2017

I'm all for metric units but the reality is that America was built with the inch/pound system and so all the stuff built or constructed, buildings, cars, truck, roads, bridges, houses, ships, planes, railroads and such that last years must be serviced and that means maintaining a dual system and it means the maintenance workers and the renovation workers and engineers and designers and supervisors and managers must be fluent in Avoirdupois and Metric systems and not get confused. Remember how the Mars probe crashed because the engineering was done by a couple of groups that used different measurement systems.

Wonderful video. Well done. You explained what far to many people were never educated (informed) about. Thank you.

yeahh... like everything else huamns come up with its just concepts ,lets just agree on the meter and adopt everywhere ..yes i'm looking at you usa!

@joshsatterwhite1571

7 жыл бұрын

Gille Louback American here. I wish we would. I really do.

@thegrimwar995

7 жыл бұрын

Actually, Thomas Jefferson and the other founding fathers were fans of the metric system, but they gave up on it because, as I quoted from an answer on Quora... "Thomas Jefferson was a fan of the metric system and wanted the US to adopt it. Until he found out that the French boffins who were defining the system gave up on the idea of defining the second as the period of a pendulum of a given length. Jefferson really didn’t like the idea of depending on reference units that only existed in Paris - he wanted a pure system that could be derived entirely from natural constants, anywhere in the world. When he saw that the French were unable to do that, he lost enthusiasm for it. (I’m sure local politics had a lot to do with it too, but this is what dampened Jefferson’s advocacy efforts.) BTW, the reason why the second couldn’t be defined with a pendulum length (at the time; it’s actually defined by natural constants - different ones - today) is because the Earth’s gravity varies too much from place to place. I’m not sure if Jefferson knew that was the reason."

@georgebelmonte8522

7 жыл бұрын

Gille Louback American here. No way. I refuse to measure my dick in centimeters.

@thegrimwar995

7 жыл бұрын

You are not funny...

@z0ng0

7 жыл бұрын

oh... in millimeters, then ?

At the end "it was revolutionary" than the French flag popped up I was laughing so hard 😂😂

Story telling is amazing on this channel!

Your videos are awesome, I appreciate them very much. The meter seems in fact, to be an arbitrary length. Aren't they all though? are the yard, foot, inch or mile any less arbitrary references of length? one practical difference is that there is a logical and consistent ratio between a nanometer, a millimeter, centimeter, meter, kilometer, and in many instances, simplicity is the ultimate design. Those messy units to measure length have not deterred the US from achieving so many advances in science, technology and inventions.

@GH-oi2jf

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, any base unit os length is arbitrary. There are countless ways one could choose the initial unit.

@Ryvaken

Жыл бұрын

Actually the standard system is not arbitrary. Almost every unit is derived from something people actually did in their day to day life. If you wanted "about a pound of flour" you get a double handful of flour and put it in a sack. The foot is fairly obvious, the yard is about a single step, the mile is around a thousand full paces...the units are by design ideas that the human brain can grasp quickly. The metric system, however, makes no attempt to be accessible. It is an invention of pseudoscientific navel-gazing to try and create units that were not arbitrary. It failed at that task, as described in the video. More importantly, the strict powers of ten forces them to frequently use units that are too big or too small for casual use. A few centuries before metric was a thing the British were standardizing the system and smoothing out conversions to be whole numbers, but the individual units were all chosen on the basis of being useful on their own. It is a "simplicity of use" rather than "simplicity of conversion."

Good summary!!! thank you :-) I can recommend the book "The measure of all things" by Ken Alder... it tells the entire story of how this oddysey drove people to madness. One of my favorite books of all time :-)

Oh boy...ur videos is so intriguing.. loved it !

3:06 learned about this in my precalculus class this semester👏🏼 solving an oblique triangle using the Law of Sines

the video editing is really funny

I'm american, and not even I know why we're still on the imperial system.

@cristianverdugogalaz8725

7 жыл бұрын

cos it basicly means that they would need to add/change sings on streets, start teaching it in schools, and stuff like that, which would take a couple of years and some money (most likely less than Nasa's buget and thats really a low one) so yeah its useful in the long run, but as always humans are bad at looking on the advantages of something more than 5 months into the future most of the time

@NoThrottle

5 жыл бұрын

I use ft and inches for animal height meters for anything taller than an average elephant. CM for anything smaller than an average thumb inches for anything larger than an average thumb Kilograms for weight

@3seven5seven1nine9

5 жыл бұрын

The same reason there are people in Ireland who still speak Irish, and people in Hong Kong who speak Cantonese. Everyone's quick to accept cultural difference unless they're American

@whiplash7400

5 жыл бұрын

@@3seven5seven1nine9 Trust me it's a pain in the ass that we Irish have Irish as a core subject in school, you have to learn it! Nobody actually uses it though, apart from some areas that speak Irish, but even there, the people still know English, and not many Irish people are actually fluent in Irish, because they only cared about the grade in school, the minute they graduated, they never spoke a word of it again.

@fhuber7507

5 жыл бұрын

Because Carter tried to force us to convert, but Carter damn near caused a second Great Depression.

Thanks a ton, exactly the kind of channel i was searching for years. Thank you !

@fanbuoy9234

5 жыл бұрын

A metric ton or the other one?

Woah now that was so very interesting !! Thank you. I'm from Finland where the metric is in use 👍

1:31 is when all Red dead Redemption 2 players reacted.

Damn, an experimental error of .02% is pretty damn accurate. Most of my experiments have an error of +-5.0%

Great video and well produced. thank you,

your explanation technique is brilliant

Yeah, like all units of measurement, how big the metre is , is completely arbitrary; however: Base ten. Face it you imperialists, base ten makes metric the better system by far. Once you know that you can convert between units simply by moving the decimal left or right, you notice that it's just more user friendly all around.

@ganaraminukshuk0

7 жыл бұрын

Kenny Martin Base 10 sucks. We really oughta be using a power of 2 as a base or base 12. >:D

@kennymartin5976

7 жыл бұрын

Ganaram Inukshuk 12? Bah! 12 is needlessly complicated! A pittice to you and your "12"!!

@danilooliveira6580

7 жыл бұрын

base 12 is great, you can divide by 2, 3, 4, 6 and 12 and be left with a integer. though even as base 12 the imperial system fails. its so complicated and with really weird conversions that it doesn't make sense

@kennymartin5976

7 жыл бұрын

***** I hear ya.

@ganaraminukshuk0

7 жыл бұрын

How about a nice compromise between base 10 and base 12? Why not base 11?

"Les Mesurables" ;-) brilliant!

another GREAT video! Thanks always!

The ad was in the end after the whole video. You sir, have my thumbs up.

"this is the official meter. after centuries of struggle we finally have one" the world: yey!! American: nah fam, we gud.

@romanis9596

7 жыл бұрын

Irun Mon Huh, I've seen you on Cynicalex's videos. Sup

@irun_mon

7 жыл бұрын

Bryce P-Stevenson sup dude, am glad to see another person who have the same interest in MFF and science. lol

@frankmartin8471

3 жыл бұрын

The meter is still an arbitrary distance, just like the yard.

@livelaurent

2 жыл бұрын

​ @Frank Martin True, but I don't think it matters. At the beg. you need to have a set of distance, does not matter what is the baseline. but between having a baseline based on physics and something intangible that can be actually measured with the speed of light and some random "foot/yard/teeth/cup" stuff, I'll with the first one. On top of that, everything is based on the decimal system while the other system is out of Frankenstein movie (1 miles = 1760 y, 1y = 3f, 1f = 12 inches and so on)...

@GH-oi2jf

2 жыл бұрын

In the United States, we use the same standard for le mètre as everybody else.

Fun fact: they found poles of bronze in about 4000 year old villages in what today is Germany. These poles were bundled, always ten (!) poles together and these bundles' weight was throughout - quite precisely - 1 kilogram each.

This is actually really interesting. I was thinking about this the other day

this question has been on my mind for so long, never bothered to look for an answer. it crossed my mind today to look it up but seems that youtube can read my thoughts and just put this video in my home tab.

Great, now this is gonna bug me for the rest of my life ._.

@william41017

7 жыл бұрын

Teddy Ber what?

@NazmusLabs

7 жыл бұрын

Teddy Ber but it's just a couple mm off

@ObjectsInMotion

7 жыл бұрын

Teddy Ber Join the club.

0:12 yes, it is in the international bureau of weights and measures, they have kept a meter in a locked room.

@Dominus_Potatus

7 жыл бұрын

Sayan Mitra the twist: a meter is locked in a meter by meter by meter cube in a meter below earth which are all measured for one perfect meter length

@nettles89

7 жыл бұрын

Sorta kinda. Yes, there are (and have long been) physical standards for this measurement, but it's now defined mathematically, and between the mathematical definition and the physical standard, the mathematical definition is more authoritative.

@vampyricon7026

6 жыл бұрын

That's the kilogram

@OtKH00

5 жыл бұрын

My life's mission is to find the hiding place of the Meter and replace it with an imperial based ruler

@Ltellin669957

5 жыл бұрын

not anymore, since 2012 the metre is defined as the length of the path travelled by light in a vacuum in 1/299 792 458 second. source: www.bipm.org/en/CGPM/db/17/1/

(1:35) Yet, still today, when you buy a drink at a place, too often in my experience, the volume is still not specified.

You should do a video on how the clock works and compare the types starting from the very first clock all the way to the satellite clock.

Can birds be afraid of heights?

@EdwinLuciano

7 жыл бұрын

I can imagine an ostrich or a penguin who wouldn't like to be on top of the Empire State building. What is known is that some species of flying birds don't like to fly over water for long periods of time. Call me on it, and I'll tell you where I read that.

@dentoncrimescene

7 жыл бұрын

ZeCasuals. Can humans be afraid of the ground?

@william41017

7 жыл бұрын

dentoncrimescene some babies can get a little scared of walking for the first time, the same happens to birds when learning to fly. So kinda...

@SoundDrout

7 жыл бұрын

LagiNaLangAko23 neither do birds...

@philiphawron

6 жыл бұрын

ZeCasuals, no they cannot evolutionarily it's beacuse well what good would that do? Like what if humans were afraid of walking? what good would that do?

Can you make a video on goosebumps????

I love the editing and script on this video XD. (I know its a year old video but just adds to the praise.)

This channel makes simple questions deep...

Me before the video: 1meter is 1/10000000 the distance between the North Pole and the equator passing though Paris Me after the video: 1meter is 1/10000000 the distance between the North Pole and the equator passing though Paris

@carollollol

6 жыл бұрын

Yeah! I agree! If they did it by hand and some one fucked up and they got still that close to the real number. Im impressed. :)

Why is a mile a mile? Turns out that a mile is really close to 12 to the third power yards, so we were insanely close to having standardised base 12 measurements.

@rovicalwencandava275

7 жыл бұрын

Ganaram Inukshuk 😢

@BelialsRevenge

7 жыл бұрын

"really close" meh, good enough

@BelialsRevenge

7 жыл бұрын

Since 99% of humanity uses a decimal system id argue that its only logical and convenient to also make our units base 10.

@ganaraminukshuk0

7 жыл бұрын

I wouldn't say 99% of humanity; there's plenty of parts of the world that use bases that aren't even 10: base 8, 12, 20, 27... Saying that nearly all of humanity agreed on ten is kinda... barbaric, for lack of a better word.

@BelialsRevenge

7 жыл бұрын

i gotta admit it was a kinda abrabric phrasing. I was thinking of the scientific community in particular when making that statement, which would still be a exaggeration.

Lovely! Please make an episode living a year in Metric France!

As a retired Toolmaker my apprentice years in Australia in 14th February 1966 went decimal [Metric ] best thing ever. The old 1 inch was divided into Halves ; quarters ; eights; sixteenths ; thirty seconds ; sixty firths and then went into one thousands of one inch which is basically metric again . Metric was just a division of ten so easy even you Americans can do it. And while you are at it change your date system to Day : Month ; Year . And learn how to spell COLOUR .

"Now lets see what the problem of the universe is." *lifts mast* *sees humans*

I thought they used 10 times the length of 1 side of a cube of water at 1 atmosphere which would have a mass of exactly 1 kilogram and the volume of 1 liter. How awesome it would be to have the basic units of length, mass and volume all derived from a single chunk of something as universal as good old H2O.

I love it! Very cool! Thumbs up! Thank you.

i thought i learned everything in physics class about the meter. didnt know it was to match old hunk of metal nice video

I'm watching this in science class my teacher doesn't know ha ha ha o_0

@ganaraminukshuk0

7 жыл бұрын

MikeTBG At least you're learning something, amirite?

The Metric System is superior: from the smallest things like pills (milligrams) to the heaviest stuff (tons = 1 ton is 1000 kilos).

this whole comment section is non-americans "criticising" the imperial system. i thought the comment section existed to comment and give feedback on the actual video. That being said: You should probably make a vid about the imperial system

I had actually always wondered this. Not the meter specifically, but I had always wondered who created the measurements.

4:25 When she takes her make up off

And this triagonal sign

@vielfrancisco6933

7 жыл бұрын

AC 計算機 AC Calculator NO MEMES ALLOWED1!!!!!11

@want-diversecontent3887

6 жыл бұрын

Viel Francisco are unobvious memes allowed?

I like the title of the channel. I'm totally agree with that

Mind blown... Impressive research.

I guess it's more important that it is divided into easy decimal chunks instead of arbitrary divisions. The actual length is less important. 14 ounces, 16 pounds or whatever cannot be argued for.

The metric system is sooooo awesome It is sooo easy, accurate, and sensible if those opposed would just realize it's better they would drop the childish crap.. "it's not amarican!" Thank you France for the system!!! Ps youtube has tutorials I don't care how it happened; I'm just glad I got to [meet her]!

I really enjoyed that thank you.

I was under the impression that this was about measuring devices. that would be a cool video - what are the principles common to all meters (measuring devices)?

I laughed a little too hard when Ryan Gosling slapped Channing Tatum . . .

For those that don't know: America technically IS a metric country. The imperial weights and measures used are defined using the metic system.

@mats7492

5 жыл бұрын

yeah, they converted imperial to metric and then back again which is borderline insane!

You're doing a great job

Man I love these videos keep being smart 🙌

The way I see it is that it takes one joule to heat up one ml/cm cubed of water up by one degree which is 1% of the difference between the boiling and freezing point of water. Then you just scale it up from that one cm.

@joetyler835

7 жыл бұрын

Minotaur1501 ! 3:13 can you please tell me how is arranging triangles can give them the distance ? I mean its not straight.. how ?

@joetyler835

6 жыл бұрын

Caleb trigo, so how ?

@fanbuoy9234

5 жыл бұрын

But the energy required to heat up the water would surely increase the further you get from the surrounding temperature?

@okaro6595

5 жыл бұрын

No, it takes 4.184 joules to do that.

@rickytarkowski2490

5 жыл бұрын

You are correct, woo hoo!

Pros: Attempt at standardization and non-arbitrary definitions. Cons: Had anything to do with the French revolution.

The reason I like to differentiate between metre and meter, is because they are two separate things. A metre is a unit of metric length, a meter is some form of gauge for measuring , for example a gas meter or electricity meter.

@zigisamblak

Жыл бұрын

But a meter is called a meter for a reason. Also that's the way you pronounce it. If you want to write metre why not pronounce it like the French do? Then you avoid verbal confusion.

Thanx! This worthy post displaced some odd bit of fan theory that, really, I was embarrassed to have absorbed. Yay!

Read the comments to see all the American bashing. Was not disappointed.