The
metric system is a decimalised
system of measurement based on the
metre and the
gram. It exists in several variations, with different choices of
base units, though these do not affect its day-to-day use. Over the last two centuries, different variants have been considered
the metric system. Since the
1960s the
International System of Units (SI) ("
Système International d'Unités" in
French, hence "SI") has been the internationally recognised standard metric system. Metric units of mass, length, and electricity are widely used around the world for both everyday and scientific purposes. A standard set of prefixes in multiples of 10 may be used to derive larger and smaller units. However, the prefixes for multiples of 1000 are the most commonly used.
Overview In 1586, the Dutch mathematician
Simon Stevin published a small pamphlet called
De Thiende ('the tenth'). Decimal fractions had been employed for the extraction of square roots some five centuries before his time, but nobody established their daily use before Stevin. He felt that this innovation was so significant that he declared the universal introduction of decimal coinage, measures and weights to be merely a question of time.
The idea of a metric system has been attributed to
John Wilkins, first secretary of the
Royal Society in 1668. It was also reinstated in 1820 by a somewhat unlikely person, King William I of the (United) Netherlands. Although he was generally considered more conservative, he was desperate to bring at least some form of unity to his rather disunited kingdom. His attempts were vain in that Belgium claimed its independence from the Netherlands, but the metric system survived and began a slow but steady conquest of the world. By the 1960s, the majority of nations were on the metric system and most that were not had started programmes to fully convert to the metric system (
metrication). As of
2005 only three countries, the
United States,
Liberia, and
Myanmar (Burma) had not mandated the metric system upon their populace.
Later improvements in the measurement of both the size of the Earth and the properties of water revealed discrepancies between the metric standards and their originally intended values. The
Industrial Revolution was well under way and the standardisation of mechanical parts, mainly bolts and nuts, was of great importance and they relied on precise measurements. Though these discrepancies would be mostly hidden in the manufacturing tolerances of those days, changing the prototypes to conform to the new and more precise measurements would have been impractical particularly since new and improved instruments would continually change them.
It was decided to break the linkage between the prototypes and the natural properties they were derived from. The prototypes then became the basis of the system. The use of prototypes, however, is problematic for a number of reasons. There is the potential for loss, damage or destruction. There is also the problem of variance of the standard with the changes that any artifact can be expected to go through, though they be slight. Also whilst there may be copies, there must be only one official prototype which cannot be universally accessible.
The metre had been defined in terms of such a prototype and remained so until
1960. At that time, the metre was defined as a certain number of wavelengths of a particular frequency of light emitted by a certain element. Since
1983 the metre has been defined as the distance light travels in a given fraction of a second in a vacuum. Thus the definition of the metre ultimately regained a linkage with a natural property, this time a property thought immutable in our universe and truly universal. The
kilogram is now the only base unit still defined in terms of a prototype. Since 1899, the kilogram has been formally anchored to a single platinum-iridium cylinder in Sèvres, France.
On
May 20,
1875 an international treaty known as the
Convention du Mètre (Metre Convention) was signed by 17 states. This treaty established the following organisations to conduct international activities relating to a uniform system for measurements:
The metric system is used widely for scientific purposes but there are some exceptions, especially at large and small scales, such as the
parsec. It has been adopted for everyday life by most nations through a process called
metrication. As of 2006, 95% of the world's population live in metricated countries, although non-metric units are still used for some purposes in some countries. The holdouts to full metrication are the
United States and, to a lesser degree, the
United Kingdom, where there is public attachment to the traditional units.
Conférence générale des poids et mesures (CGPM), an intergovernmental conference of official delegates of member nations and the supreme authority for all actions;
Comité international des poids et mesures (CIPM), consisting of selected scientists and metrologists, which prepares and executes the decisions of the CGPM and is responsible for the supervision of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures;
Bureau international des poids et mesures (BIPM), a permanent laboratory and world centre of scientific metrology, the activities of which include the establishment of the basic standards and scales of the principal physical quantities and maintenance of the international prototype standards.
History The metric system was designed with several goals in mind.
Goals The designers of the metric system meant to make it as neutral as possible so that it could be adopted universally.
Neutral and universal The usual way to establish a standard was to make prototypes of the base units and distribute copies. This would make the new standard reliant on the original prototypes which would be in conflict with the previous goal since all countries would have to refer to the one holding the prototypes.
The designers developed definitions of the base units such that any laboratory equipped with proper instruments should be able to make their own models of them. The original base units of the metric system could be derived from the length of a
meridian of the Earth and the weight of a certain volume of pure water. They discarded the use of a
pendulum since its period or, inversely, the length of the string holding the bob for the same period changes around the Earth. Likewise, they discarded using the circumference of the Earth over the Equator since not all countries have access to the Equator while all countries have access to a section of a meridian.
Replicable The metric system is decimal, in the sense that all multiples and submultiples of the base units are factors of powers of ten of the unit. Fractions of a unit (e.g. 29/64) are not used formally. The practical benefits of a decimal system are such that it has been used to replace other non-decimal systems outside the metric system of measurements; for example currencies.
The simplicity of decimal prefixes encouraged the adoption of the metric system. Clearly the advantages of decimal prefixes derive from our using
base 10 arithmetic, a consequence of our happening to have 10 digits (fingers and thumbs). At most, differences in expressing results are simply a matter of shifting the decimal point or changing an exponent; for example, the
speed of light may be expressed as 299 792.458 km/s or 2.99792458×10 m/s.
Decimal multiples Main article: SI prefix Common prefixes Originally, units for volume and mass were directly related to each, with mass defined in terms of a volume of
water. Even though that definition is no longer used, the relation is quite close at room temperature and nearly exact at 4 degrees C. So as a practical matter, one can fill a container with water and weigh it to get the volume, for example.
Relation of volume and mass of water The base units were chosen to be of similar magnitude to customary units. The metre, being close to half a
toise (French
yard equivalent), became more popular than the failed decimal hour of the Republican Calendar which was 2.4 times the normal hour.
The kilometre was originally defined as the length of an arc spanning a decimal minute of
latitude, a similar definition to that of the
nautical mile which was the length of an arc of one (non-decimal) minute of
latitude.
Practical Two important values, when they were expressed in the metric system, turned out to be very close to a multiple of 10. The standard acceleration due to gravity on Earth g
n has been defined to be 9.80665
m/
s² exactly, which is the value at about 45° north or south of the equator. Accordingly the
force exerted on a
mass of one kilogram in Earth gravity (
F = m·a) is about ten newtons (kg-m/s²). This simplified the metrication of many machines such as locomotives, which were simply re-labeled from e.g. "85
tonnes" to "850 kN". A closer approximation is π² m/s², which means a one-metre
pendulum has a period of almost exactly two seconds.
Also, the standard
atmospheric pressure, previously expressed in
atmospheres, when given in
pascals, is 101.325 kPa. Since the difference between 10 atmospheres and 1 MPa is only 1.3%, many devices were simply re-labeled by dividing the scale by ten, e.g. 1 atm was changed to 0.1 MPa.
In addition, the
speed of light in a vacuum turns out to be astonishingly close (0.07% error) to 3×10
Coincidental similarities to real-life values Metric systems The metric system, and metre was first fully described by Englishman John Wilkins in 1668 in a treatise presented to the Royal Society some 120 years before the French adopted the system. It is believed that the system was transmitted to France from England via the likes of Benjamin Franklin (who spent a great deal of time in London), and produced the by-product of the decimalised paper currency system, before finding favour with American revolutionary ally Louis XV. This also serves as the prototype in the
SI. It included only few
prefixes from
milli, one thousandth to
myria ten thousand.
Several national variants existed thereof with aliases for some common subdivisions. In general this entailed a redefinition of other units in use, e.g. 500-gram
pounds or 10-kilometre miles or leagues. An example of these is
mesures usuelles. However it is debatable whether such systems are true metric systems.
Original system Early on in the history of the metric system various
centimetre gram second systems of units (CGS) had been in use. These units were particularly convenient in science and technology.
Centimetre-gram-second systems Later metric systems were based on the
metre,
kilogram and
second (MKS) to improve the value of the units for practical applications. Metre-kilogram-second-
coulomb (MKSC) and metre-kilogram-second-
ampere (MKSA) systems are extensions of these.
The
International System of Units (
Système international d'unités or SI) is the current international standard metric system and the system most widely used around the world. It is based on the metre, kilogram, second, ampere,
kelvin,
candela and
mole.
Gravitational systems Several nations, notably the
United States, use the spellings
meter,
liter, etc. instead of
metre,
litre, in keeping with standard
American English spelling (see also
American and British English differences). This also corresponds to the official spelling used in many other languages, such as German, Dutch, Swedish, etc. In addition, the official U.S. spelling for the
SI prefix deca is
deka, though it is rarely used. The spelling
tonne is common outside American English, where
metric ton is the normal usage.
The U.S. government has approved these spellings for official use. In scientific contexts only the symbols are used; since these are universally the same, the differences do not arise in practice in scientific use.
Gram is also sometimes spelled
gramme in English-speaking countries other than the United States, though it is an older spelling and its usage is declining.
Symbol
History
Trophies and prize money
Legacy
Jackie Robinson's number 42 is retired throughout Major League Baseball
