> back that metric is scientific measurement because it is
a part of the
> > circumference of the world. That may matter to a map
maker but I don't
<<<<That's very unscientific definition of metric system and
makes no sense
in reality.>>>>
In actual fact, the metre has no relationship to any
physical thing. It arose as a 'standard' measurement in 1791
after the French revolution when King Louis XVII instructed
the French Academy of Sciences to define a standard metre.
They decided that it should be One ten-millionth of the
distance from the North Pole to the Equator measured on a
line which passed through Paris. Unfortunately, even though
the best minds in Paris at the time spent about four years
working on this, they failed to allow for the flattening of
the earth near the poles and so got the measurement wrong.
At about the same time both the UK and the US were also
proposing a change to metric measurements and Thomas
Jefferson made a report to Congress on 4the July 1790 with
such proposals. If this had been accepted, the standard
measures would have been:-
"Let the foot be divided into 10 inches;
The inch into 10 lines;
The line into 10 points;
Let 10 feet make a decad;
10 decads one rood;
10 roods a furlong;
10 furlongs a mile. "
If you want to read the whole transcript of the report, you
can find it here.. http://tinyurl.com/mc7zlz
Best wishes,
Ian
------------------------
Ian W Wright
Sheffield UK
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