Units of Measurement

[Vertigo]

Must be a British thing. No surveyor in the US uses a physical chains to measure anything. A transit with a calibrated stick is far more accurate. Here is an example from then 19th century. This was the standard until the 1990s. Of course now everything is electronic.
View attachment 121357

I may be wrong but I don't think that was used to measure distance. The calibrated stick is for heights is it not? For much longer distances I think triangulation was used.

 

[Dave]

A US Football field covers approximately an acre of land... A regulation Soccer field is approximately the same size with the soccer field a bit larger.

So, you agree with me? Most people have seen a sports field, been on a bus, watched a cat outstretch. etc. So, because people can visualise them, there is a very flimsy reason to use them, rather than 5000 sq. yards, 16 feet or 5 feet, but absolutely no reason at all to say anything is 980 times as large as any of these odd measurements which no one can visualise.

 

[Cthulhu.Science]

As I asked above: Are rods, chains and furlongs used in the US?

No. But Engineers use 10ths of feet (instead of inches). So an architect will dimension a building site as 100 feet by 50 feet 6 inches.

The Civil Engineer will dimension the lot as 100 feet by 50.5 feet. (for examples google "Plat Map") This is mostly apparent in elevation markers. The Civil engineer will lay out the elevations of the top of foundation, the interior floor levels of the ground floor (first floor in US) and the adjacent grades and "flatwork". Flatwork being a term for paved patios, walkways and drives. So the Entry hall may be at 456.32 feet (above sea level) and the adjacent porch is a step down at 455.82 feet.

Landscape Architects separate those ideas as "landscape" and "hardscape." Just a fun nomenclature add.

 

[Cthulhu.Science]

I may be wrong but I don't think that was used to measure distance. The calibrated stick is for heights is it not? For much longer distances I think triangulation was used.

The calibrated stick is used primarily for distance and elevation. A transit provides very precise angle measurements. The Surveyor determines distance by triangulating the "top" of the stick with the "bottom" and check the angle between the top and bottom of the stick. So it is excellent and as precise as the surveyors' math at determining distance. It also determines general slope of the land using the same principle.

 

[JunkMonkey]

A US Football field covers approximately an acre of land. An acre is 4840 square yards,

Unless it is a Scottish acre (done away with in the 19thC) which was 54,760 square feet approximately 1.257 English acres.

Other obsolete Scottish units of measurement I have just learned about while checking that fact:

Oxgang - the area an ox could plough in a year (around 20 acres. Scottish or English acres? Wikipedia doesn't say.)
Ploughgate - 8 oxgangs
Daugh (Dabhach) - 4 ploughgates

Scottish acre - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Parson]

In my experience a rod is still used, at least occasionally, in the US in determining the acres in a farm. A furlong is AFAIK exclusive to horse racing. A peck basket is very occasionally seen, AFAIK it is not used to measure anything. --- But when buying produce I have seen a peck basket of apples or some such. But I would understand its use as a convenient size to carry and a more manageable amount of produce for a small household and nothing more.

 

[Ursa major]

A furlong is AFAIK exclusive to horse racing

As "everyone" knows, a furlong is ten cricket pitches long (i.e. ten times the distance between the two wickets)....

 

[Cthulhu.Science]

Unless it is a Scottish acre (done away with in the 19thC) which was 54,760 square feet approximately 1.257 English acres.

Hmm that is about the size of a FIFA regulation soccer pitch.
It all begins to make sense!

 

[Mikestone8]

instead of necroing an old thread...

If if read a futuristic sci-fi and the author uses imperial
--if the story was wrote in the 90s or later, I assume the author doesn't know much science. Probably an unfair assumption, yet one that happens nonetheless. It is a stumbling block and if I were to hit another one or two blocks right off, I would discard the book.
Basically if the story involves off Earth by human tech it should be metric imo. Science uses metric, NASA uses metric, imperial causes rockets to get lost. It requires me to suspend my disbelief when I encounter imperial here. (of course some authors produce their own units with great success)

If it was steam punk in the USA I would expect imperial.

OTOH why assume that metric is inevitable?

In 1973 we thought that joining the Common market was permanent but it has turned out not to be.

 

[Vladd67]

OTOH why assume that metric is inevitable?

In 1973 we thought that joining the Common market was permanent but it has turned out not to be.

Well the Common market was dissolved and replaced with a political union so it left us rather than us leaving it.

 

[Vertigo]

OTOH why assume that metric is inevitable?

In 1973 we thought that joining the Common market was permanent but it has turned out not to be.

When Boris tried to reintroduce Imperial measures the 'consultation' they did showed quite unambiguously that there was absolutely no appetite for it (thank goodness).

 

[Danny McG]

It's still nice to go out to the pub for a few pints though, going out for a couple of litres doesn't sound right!

 

[Parson]

It's still nice to go out to the pub for a few pints though, going out for a couple of litres doesn't sound right!

I'm suspicious that @Danny McG would rather tell the wife he had 2 pints, rather than admitting to 4 liters of beer down at the pub.

 

[Lostinspace]

A US Football field covers approximately an acre of land. An acre is 4840 square yards ...snip

4840 sq. yds. sounds a peculiar number until you notice it is a chain times a furlong. Does this originate from strip cultivation?

 

[Ursa major]

From Wikipedia:

Traditionally, in the Middle Ages, an acre was conceived of as the area of land that could be ploughed by one man using a team of eight oxen in one day.

Later in the article, it goes on to say:

Originally, an acre was understood as a strip of land sized at forty perches (660 ft, or 1 furlong) long and four perches (66 ft) wide; this may have also been understood as an approximation of the amount of land a yoke of oxen could plough in one day (a furlong being "a furrow long").

 

[farntfar]

It's still nice to go out to the pub for a few pints though, going out for a couple of litres doesn't sound right!

IIRC this is almost exactly what is said by an old man at the beginning of 1984.

Except a bit more about how much he could drink. A litre was too much and half a litre not enough.
But a pint was just right.

Maybe this was the most prophetic part of the whole book.

 

[Alex The G and T]

Hokey Smokes! Dems big perches. The local Surf Perch are rarely longer than about half a cubit.

 

[Cthulhu.Science]

4840 sq. yds. sounds a peculiar number until you notice it is a chain times a furlong. Does this originate from strip cultivation?

Also interestingly there is exactly 640 acres in a square mile. Though, curiously 640 is not the square of any whole number. Strip cultivation again?

 

[psikeyhackr]

Americans are too egomaniacal to stoop to metric. You think we have functioning brains?

 

[Cthulhu.Science]

Americans are too egomaniacal to stoop to metric. You think we have functioning brains?

Metric - sounds socialist - or worse, FRENCH.