The Metric system is the most used system of measurement in
the world. Americans are not fairly up to date about. Some people
believe that the whole world deals with miles, feet, and pounds.
Yet, they are mistaken. The whole world deals with meters, grams,
and liters. The United States is the only country that does not
use the metric system. The metric system official name is the SI
or International System of Units. The metric system is the
official system of measurement of science. Everything in science
is based on metrics. There was a law passed in 1975 by
Congress for America to convert to a metric country like the rest
of the world. Yet, it fell through and never came to be. In this
paper I will explain the many facets of the metric system. How it
came to be, how it works, its seven base units, its prefixes, and
how to convert metric system units from one to another.
History of measurement Throughout Time
Measurement has been used in society since the time of
Noah's ark. Noah's base unit was called the cubit. It was the
distance from a man's tip of his middle finger to his elbow. This
was the most efficient because it could be used right away. The
practice of using the body for measurement continued on. The foot
was developed by using the man's foot for measurement. While
the body for measurement the ancient societies found interesting
things about the body. An inch was originally the width of a
man's thumb. They also uncovered some ratios that existed in the
body. The inch was also the length from the tip of the forefinger
to the begging of the joint. Twelve times that number was the
foot. Three times the foot was the distance from the tip of the
nose to the tip of the middle finger. This is the invention of
the yard. Two yards equaled a fathom, which was the distance from
the tip of the middle fingers from an outst...