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02-22-2008, 08:35 PM
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#1 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Threads: 34
Posts: 57
| English v metrics in engineering in the US
At the engineering schools here, do the courses use metrics or the English unit system? Metrics is the standard in the sciences, but most engineering in the US still involves the English system. How do universities reconcile the two?
Thanks in advance. | 
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02-22-2008, 09:31 PM
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#2 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Virginia Gender: Male
Threads: 1
Posts: 103
| we use both. I would assume that would apply for all schools. | |
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02-22-2008, 09:50 PM
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#3 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Threads: 2
Posts: 57
| can't you use both? In real life you will get some information reported in imperial units and some in metric. Math and physics works the same in both systems. | |
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02-22-2008, 11:06 PM
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#4 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Nov 2007 Gender: Male
Threads: 22
Posts: 210
| Construction - Imperial/English/Standard/fgfgsfgh
Everything else - Metric | |
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02-22-2008, 11:06 PM
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#5 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Threads: 9
Posts: 171
| I always use google.
e.j. "100 inches to cm", "35.2 (gallons/minutes) to (m^3)/seconds" | |
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02-23-2008, 11:02 AM
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#6 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Houston, Texas Gender: Female
Threads: 10
Posts: 1,957
| Civ's so backwards that the main unit of force is actually the kip... The kilopound. I'm not kidding.
Don't expect the construction industry to go over to metric any time soon. I think there are some contractors that still measure things in leagues and fathoms*.
*this part may or may not be a complete lie | |
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02-23-2008, 11:34 AM
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#7 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: New York City
Threads: 1
Posts: 1,479
| I really do despise this combination of metric/imperial. I used to work as an inspector for a state DOT, and ALL of their documents were in metric, because they wanted to convert. However, all the contractors and their shop drawings used feet and inches. Guess who got stuck in between! ME! argh. It took me a while just to find a tape measure with both systems.
In most other situations though, it's either one or the other. In academia, it's usually a mix. | |
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02-23-2008, 06:40 PM
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#8 | | Member
Join Date: Aug 2004
Threads: 51
Posts: 860
| I can't take any engineer or scientist who uses the english system seriously. It saddens me to see engineering text books that use it. | |
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02-23-2008, 07:07 PM
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#9 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Houston, Texas Gender: Female
Threads: 10
Posts: 1,957
| Get used to it, scorp. As much as many of us are pro-metric system, all the constants that we know were taught to us in a pro-English system world. Once you get into the industry, you'll realize how much inertia there is in switching an entire system of measurement over. If it were mandated that things change, it would grind the entire industry to a screeching halt for a year or more, because all the "engineering judgment" out there that's so crucial to the field of engineering is all known in English units.
So be irked about it, sure, but don't do that "can't take any engineer or scientist who uses the english system seriously" thing. We can't change the world we have to work in. If I started using the metric system exclusively starting Monday morning, I'd have my arse canned in less than a month. | |
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02-23-2008, 08:56 PM
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#10 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Nov 2007 Gender: Male
Threads: 22
Posts: 210
| I take you seriously, aibarr. Especially in your "corporate attire"  | |
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02-23-2008, 10:05 PM
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#11 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Houston, Texas Gender: Female
Threads: 10
Posts: 1,957
| Well, thank you, Luminaire. <struts her stuff in her steel-toed boots of death> | |
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02-23-2008, 10:14 PM
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#12 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Nov 2007 Gender: Male
Threads: 22
Posts: 210
| Do you really wear steel-toed boots? Those suckers are waaaay too heavy. I chose not to wear them back when I was working construction, and it wasn't just because the cheapest pair was $120 and I got paid slave's wages. Engineers don't have to move as fast as the men, though | |
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02-24-2008, 02:39 PM
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#13 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Houston, Texas Gender: Female
Threads: 10
Posts: 1,957
| On job sites, sure. I was safety manager at my old firm, so when it came to steel-toed boots, despite their being insanely heavy, I always wore them. One of the guys I worked with, a weld inspector and structural technician, once nearly lost his toes when his foot got caught underneath a several-ton rolling bearing mechanism that they were using to test long-term floor durability in the lab. Only thing that saved his foot were his steel-toed boots... the leather of the whole shoe was chewed away and the steel toe was gnawed to heck, but his foot was pretty much okay.
Once you get used to 'em, they quit feeling so heavy. When I did site work, I would wear them every day and after a few weeks, I hardly noticed them anymore. And I promise... you can find cheaper men's steel-toed boots than you can women's...! | |
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02-24-2008, 07:02 PM
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#14 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: New York City
Threads: 1
Posts: 1,479
| I've seen steel toed boots go for as low as $60-$70.
And yea, you really get used to them after a while. They don't feel heavy at all for me anymore, but I remember the first few times I was wearing them... ughh. Oh, and they make women's steel toed boots? I don't think I've seen any yet... | |
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02-24-2008, 07:09 PM
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#15 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Houston, Texas Gender: Female
Threads: 10
Posts: 1,957
| You have to reeeeeaaaally look.
I found a pair of women's Wolverines at Work Boot Warehouse in Newhall, California that I wear constantly. | |
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