Harrod 1

Carter Harrod
Dr. Gregory
Write about whether or not the US
Chemistry
10/4/2015 should switch to the metric system.

Chemistry Ideabook
A topic of global interest is whether or not the United States should convert to metric.
The United States of America should not switch to the metric system. There are several reasons
why switching to the metric system would be detrimental to the United States.
One of the reasons why switching to the metric system would be terrible for the US is
the simple use of making things. When the US designed building rules and restrictions they
used both the metric SI system and the customary system. If the United States decided to
switch to the SI system fully it would render most of these regulations completely null. This
would lead to a period of time in which building and designing various things would not meet
the standards set by the rules.
The next reason switching to the metric system would be improbable is that you would
have to reteach every single person the metric conversions, and you would have to discourage
the use of customary units in stores, businesses, and everyday life. You would also have to
switch all cars’ speedometers to km/ hour and road signs to km/hr. A person might accidentally
make the mistake of reading a road sign as mi/hr rather than km/hr on a high way. You can
probably imagine the problems that might occur. With various misinterpretations like these
converting to metric would not only be costly, but harmful.
In order for people to truly grasp the concept of converting to metric you must ask what
must be changed. There are several equivalencies that people wouldn’t notice until the change
has been made. Let’s take a popular concept. Football is practically the definition of metric
problems. When you convert to metric you would have to completely redesign the fields, not
just the 100 yards long but 160 ft wide, the goal posts are 18 ft 6 inches tall and 10 feet off the
ground. For the US to convert to metric you must first face the most popular sport in America.
In order to convert this and many other American sports into metric you would not only have to
redesign the fields but completely remake the stadiums for every football field in America. This
cost would be detrimental to not only football teams and sponsors, but would also add a cost to
already budget starved school districts.
You must also look at various measurements that many people commonly use. Some of
these are PSI for your tires, Square footage for your house, acres for your yard, gallons for your
pool and gas, and many more measurements that would be deemed invaluable for the overall
use of society. For us to fully convert to the metric system we must not only write down
measurements in metric but also must begin to think and interpret measurements in metric.
These are just a few reasons why converting to metric would be ultimately terrible for the
wellbeing of the country’s economy, peoples health, and daily life.