When consulting a reference book from 1896, we came across an article about imperial measures which provides a timely reminder that, even in its heyday, this ‘system’ was not as straightforward as some would now have us believe.
Category: Science
Cabinet Office gets its kilowatts in a twist
Visitors to the Cabinet Office website will see that this branch of the Government is measuring its energy use in “kilowatt-hours per hour”. It is a sad reflection on the quality of civil service support given to this crucial part of the Government machine that such an incongruous and scientifically illiterate measure should be published.
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50 years of Celsius weather forecasts – time to kill off Fahrenheit for good?
Fifty years ago, on 15th October 1962, British weather forecasts switched over from the Fahrenheit scale to Celsius. Fifty years on, some parts of the British media inexplicably cling on to Fahrenheit measures, and the UK Metric Association (UKMA) says it’s time to kill off Fahrenheit for good.
[Press release issued on 15 October 2012]
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Two enduring controversies are highlighted by a food labelling consultation
A recent consultation by the UK Department of Health about food labelling has drawn attention to two long-standing issues, both relating to food energy and the calorie.
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NASA’s Curiosity rover lands on Mars
A recent comment on UKMA’s Facebook page has prompted Metric Views to look into NASA’s latest mission to Mars. This is reported to have landed at 06:32 BST on Monday 6 August.
A better use of multiples?
To ease the transition to metric measures, straight substitution of units is often used – kg for pounds, metres for yards, km for miles and so on. Ronnie Cohen argues that, as a result, we fail to take advantage of metric’s superiority in dealing with a range of numbers, including the very large (and small).
A metric time line for the UK
Metric Views has attempted to produce a timeline showing progress in the British Isles towards the adoption of a single, simple, rational and coherent measurement system. This article takes the story up to 1980 – the events of the past thirty years will be the subject of a further post later. Readers’ suggestions for additions and amendments are welcome.
Prospects improve for food energy labelling using SI units
One of our readers wrote to Sainsbury’s to ask that guideline daily amounts (GDAs) of energy shown on packaging should be shown in kilojoules, the SI unit, as well as or instead of kilocalories. He has received a reply that provides cause for optimism.
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The generation gap
In his recent article “Why I …”, Ronnie Cohen looked at the present to explain why he believes the UK should complete the transition to metric units. However, some of those who commented on his article also looked back. In this article, I take another look into the past and then ask if the fading of such memories might prolong the measurement muddle.
Why I became involved with measurement matters
One of our readers has written to explain why he became interested in the campaign to complete Britain’s prolonged metric changeover.
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Metric Views 