This one-of-a-kind book provides detailed information on the metric system, its origin, history, and how the base and derived units were established. The book has four chapters (Measurement Systems, the International System of Units, Metrication in the United States, and United States Metric Association), appendices, an afterword, and references. The book is principally aimed at educating students in the United States, but it will also be of interest to anyone who enjoys the popular sciences. Features History of the English, Metric, and International Systems of units Interesting facts regarding all 29 units of the International System Biographies of 19 scientists and inventors after whom the metric units are named History and timeline of definition of seven base units of the International System History and timeline of definition of 22 derived units of the International System

The intriguing tale of why the United States has never adopted the metric system, and what that says about us. The American standard system of measurement is a unique and odd thing to behold with its esoteric, inconsistent standards: twelve inches in a foot, three feet in a yard, sixteen ounces in a pound, one hundred pennies to the dollar. For something as elemental as counting and estimating the world around us, it seems like a confusing tool to use. So how did we end up with it? Most of the rest of the world is on the metric system, and for a time in the 1970s America appeared ready to make the switch. Yet it never happened, and the reasons for that get to the root of who we think we are, just as the measurements are woven into the ways we think. John Marciano chronicles the origins of measurement systems, the kaleidoscopic array of standards throughout Europe and the thirteen American colonies, the combination of intellect and circumstance that resulted in the metric system's creation in France in the wake of the French Revolution, and America's stubborn adherence to the hybrid United States Customary System ever since. As much as it is a tale of quarters and tenths, it is a human drama, replete with great inventors, visionary presidents, obsessive activists, and science-loving technocrats. Anyone who reads this inquisitive, engaging story will never read Robert Frost's line “miles to go before I sleep” or eat a foot-long sub again without wondering, Whatever happened to the metric system?

Wandmacher and Johnson provide guidance for practicing engineers, students, and educators who are adopting and using the International System of Units in their engineering work.

A basic introduction to the metric system. Covers: the three classes of SI units & the SI prefixes; units outside the SI; rules & style conventions for printing & using units; rules & style conventions for expressing values of quantities; comments on some quantities & their units; rules & style conventions for spelling unit names; printing & using symbols & numbers in scientific & technical documents; & check list for reviewing manuscripts. Appendix: definitions of SI base units & the radian & Steradian; conversion factors, & comments on the references of the SI for the U.S. Extensive bibliography.

Mankind has a fascination with measurement. Down the centuries we have produced a plethora of incompatible and duplicatory systems for measuring everything from the width of an Egyptian pyramid to the concentration of radioactivity near a nuclear reactor and the value of the fine structure constant. With the introduction first of the metric system and of its successor the Système International d'Unités (SI), the scientific community has established a standard method of measurement based on only seven core units. The Encyclopaedia of Scientific Units, Weights and Measures converts the huge variety of units from all over the world in every period of recorded history into units of the SI. Featuring: - An A - Z of conversion tables for over 10,000 units of measurements. - Tables of the fundamental constants of nature with their units. - Listings of professional societies, and national standardization bodies for easy reference. - An extensive bibliography detailing further reading on the multifarious aspects of measurement and its units. This huge work is simply a "must have" for any reference library frequented by scientists of any discipline or by those with historical interests in units of measurement such as archaeologists.

In June 1792, amidst the chaos of the French Revolution, two intrepid astronomers set out in opposite directions on an extraordinary journey. Starting in Paris, Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Delambre would make his way north to Dunkirk, while Pierre-François-André Méchain voyaged south to Barcelona. Their mission was to measure the world, and their findings would help define the meter as one ten-millionth of the distance between the pole and the equator—a standard that would be used “for all people, for all time.” The Measure of All Things is the astonishing tale of one of history’s greatest scientific adventures. Yet behind the public triumph of the metric system lies a secret error, one that is perpetuated in every subsequent definition of the meter. As acclaimed historian and novelist Ken Alder discovered through his research, there were only two people on the planet who knew the full extent of this error: Delambre and Méchain themselves. By turns a science history, detective tale, and human drama, The Measure of All Things describes a quest that succeeded as it failed—and continues to enlighten and inspire to this day.

Covers everything you need to know about the metric system (système internationale, SI), from its history to practical tips on conversions and problem solving.