Naked Science Forum
General Science => General Science => Topic started by: Geezer on 22/02/2010 16:59:00
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Somebody told me that the UK deliberately altered the weights and measures to "get back at" the US and that, in fact, the US measures are correct. Is there any truth to this story?
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Yes. We went metric.
( That is a joke answer but neither as good a joke as the idea that the UK went metric starting in 1965 nor as funny as the idea that the US went metric from 1875).
Anyway, according to the much loved wiki,
"The U.S. customary units have common roots with the Imperial units which were used in the British Empire. Many U.S. units are virtually identical to their Imperial counterparts, but the U.S. customary system developed from English units in use before the Imperial system was standardized in 1824, and there are several numerical differences from the Imperial system."
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The US gallon is a lot different to the UK gallon.
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The pint and quart are different too. The question is why and I really don't know. I suspect that it's cock-up rather than conspiracy.
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It seems the US stuck with the original 231 cubic inch gallon defined in the Queen Anne statute of 1706. The UK didn't establish the Imperial Gallon until 1824, so arguably, the US uses the correct gallon and the UK does not [:D]
I had always assumed it was the other way around.
As BC suggests, this was more likely caused by a series of cockups than any deliberate chicanery.