Metric vs. other measurement systems - chart

[Toolmaker51]

Asteroid that is "twice the size of Taj Mahal". This one slightly redeems itself by accompanying it with actual measurements.

So, where do we get the mysterious catalog of comparative measurements? I'd first want to see its method of indexing. Can't get my head around knowing the size of something, then figuring what it equals, or how many needed.
Meanwhile, yours truly is indexing his library, oh yes I am! So far, it's 4 pages thick.......in excel.

[mklotz]

According to Wikipedia, the Taj is 240' high (height being the only dimension given)

480' = 146+ meters

which is very close to 175 for large values of 146

Given that its mass is the relevant figure in evaluating an impact, it would make more sense to estimate its volume...

V = (4/3)*pi*(175/2)^3 / 2500 (m^3 per olympic swimming pool) = 1122+ olympic swimming pools

There, that's better, now it's expressed in a way the social ecology majors can comprehend.

[marksbug]

as in today today?? I dont see it

[Toolmaker51]

1122 Olympic pools?
I want that pump station contract.

[FEM2008]

I worked at a aero space& prototype shop....after a few months you realize just how stupid some engineers are...and yes some tolerances can be hard o obtain..you need a neek to do it most of the time.

If it takes a neek to successfully machine the tight tolerances, then I would call that a compliment.

I am an engineer, twice over. I worked on a variety of positions and projects, for everything from the air-force to designing products used by the largest primary metals companies in the world. Tight tolerances are sometimes truly required.
What I have often encountered foundries and shops that cannot meet even very generous industry standard tolerances that have been established decades ago. Some shops could not even meet their own tolerances.

It goes both ways!!!

[NortonDommi]

so..how many cubic millimeaters is road island??
I wasent aware that inches is the official american mesurement...how can that be??so why are my american cars metrick?I alsent aware that i have to stop deviding metric...I thought 16 mm divided by 2 was 8 mm...I must be missing something... I think that it may just be a week brain that cant seem to make either or both work. do i have to get permission from the math gods to replace the tiny metric lifters in my ac vw engine with big jessell 7/8" roller lifters?? will the earth spin off it's axsess??? is the earth flat when measured with the metric system?? what about the moon?? it is cheddar in inches and swiss cheezze in the metrick system??**** I better go back to school, this new math is really centrifuging me. sorry for the spelling part it is is now in metric.

By Hoki Marksbug DO NOT delve into decimal vs fractions of an inch or the differences between British and and American Imperial measurements will you?

[NortonDommi]

Fun fact for anyone interested. Old Massey Ferguson tractors use decimal inches for all the chassis and running gear measurements. Threw me for a loop making some ROPS for a friend who collects them. I am used to swapping between Imperial fractions and Metrickery in anything over an inch but had forgotten about decimal inches and had to go and consult a beer to figure out what these weird measurements I was getting were.

[bruce.desertrat]

Lol. Many years ago I picked up a 50' cloth rule for a buck at a yard sale.It was just the rule, no housing or winder. Never looked at it too closely, it got stuck in the back of the toolbox for times when my normal 25' tape rule wasn't big enough. Fast forward a few years, we buy a house and start measuring rooms, switching between the metal tape rule and the longer cloth rule, again, without closely examining it.

We couldn't understand why measurements kept coming up weird until I looked more closely at the cloth rule....it was graduated in tenths of a foot, not inches...

[mwmkravchenko]

Lol. Many years ago I picked up a 50' cloth rule for a buck at a yard sale.It was just the rule, no housing or winder. Never looked at it too closely, it got stuck in the back of the toolbox for times when my normal 25' tape rule wasn't big enough. Fast forward a few years, we buy a house and start measuring rooms, switching between the metal tape rule and the longer cloth rule, again, without closely examining it.

We couldn't understand why measurements kept coming up weird until I looked more closely at the cloth rule....it was graduated in tenths of a foot, not inches...

Probably for surveying.

[Toolmaker51]

1/10th scales are rare in one way, at say the local hardware, with all graduated fractional or metric. As mwmkravchenko states, and bruce.desertrat observe, they are not extinct. Surveyors and various engineers use them. I have a little 33-272 Stanley graduated in tenths and narrow. Ideal for checks inside tube or through the chuck on barstock in the lathe, handy facing off by relating directly to graduations on the machine. Or buy a loooooong hook rule at 5x the price......maybe 7x
The really small 10 footers, 1/4" wide tapes, in 1/16th's and mm are worth scrounging for. Some converting is needed, but the graduations aren't so fine to make correct measurements difficult. It's additionally helpful fractions and metric divisions don't coincide, pick closest at each instance. Using a straight edge [ie 6" scale] makes an ideal 'pointer' across end of the work, like when threads or chamfers interrupt that plane.
A casual representation of items mentioned;


And speaking of cloth tapes, get one. They are commonly sold among notions for seamstresses; 6'-8' long, dual graduations, unbeatable when measuring circumferences and arcs, in box maybe not a roll-up case, and not expensive.