Almost the whole world for many years uses the usual units of the metric system - meters, liters, kilograms. However, there are those whose government and population prefer the old standards: not so convenient, but more familiar. It is very easy for a stranger to get confused in them, but still it will be quite useful for every person to know American units of measurement.
What measurement system is used in the USA
The United States of America appeared as an independent state relatively recently: only at the end of the eighteenth century. Prior to this, the territory occupied by thirteen states was only a colony of the powerful British Empire. Many locals came from England, and the entire government in its entirety were British subjects. It is not surprising that the system for measuring weight, length and volume was completely taken from the UK.
Since then, the government has repeatedly tried to switch to the metric system of measurements, but constantly something has interfered. The latest attempt to change the obsolete system was made under President Richard Nixon in 1971. However, even then, there were no firm orders, only recommendations. As a result, ordinary people who did not want to wean from a system familiar from childhood, after a few years forgot about them. Therefore, the United States remains one of the three countries in the world where officially used obsolete English units of measure, the company consists of the former British colony Myanmar, as well as artificially created by the American government of Liberia. By the way, England itself decades ago preferred the metric system as more convenient and simple.
What is the weight measured
First, let's figure out which American units of weight are used today. On the whole, there are quite a lot of them: grains, ounces, pounds, quarters, cloves, stones, Toda, slugs, centals, quintals, fans, celdrons and a number of others. The smallest of the above - gran - is only 65 milligrams, and the largest - chaldron - as much as 2700 kilograms.
However, most Americans do not know about most of these units. And if they did, they have a very vague idea of what weight they mean.
The most popular are pounds. They are usually used in everyday life when buying building materials, products and any other goods. One pound equals 16 ounces, 7000 grams or 454 grams. Of course, it seems to our compatriots a complete savagery to measure cereals, vegetables or meat in such units. But the locals somehow adapted and can not imagine a different life. Converting pounds to kilograms is quite difficult: you need to divide, for example, 5 pounds of vegetables by a factor of 2.2, you get 2.3 kilograms.
Sometimes ounces are measured - 28 grams, but this usually applies to jewelers and dealers in precious metals. However, they often use a troy ounce equal to 31 grams.
And gun lovers apply another measure - gran. They measure the weight of gunpowder in cartridges.
Volume Units
The situation is approximately the same when it comes to American units of measurement of volume. Initially, there were quite a lot of them, and now they all exist. But at the same time, only a few are used in everyday life. Moreover, although they were taken over from the British system, the American units are slightly different. For example, an American pint is 0.551 liters, and an English pint is 0.568 liters. For a gallon, this ratio is 4.405 and 4.546.
So, the units used in the United States to measure volume in ascending order: pint, quart, gallon, pitch, bushel, barrel, qom and quarter.
In everyday life, pints and gallons are used. The former are usually used to measure liquid products (milk, alcohol, juices), as already mentioned, one pint is equal to 550 ml. The second measure fuel and other technical fluids - one gallon is equal to 4405 ml.
Converting these unusual units to liters is quite simple. For example, pints need to be divided by 1.8, and gallons multiplied by 4.4 to get a clear volume.
But the unit of measurement of the American oil barrel, equal to 159 liters, is usually used by specialists working on exchanges. Black gold is measured in barrels, not liters or tons.
How to measure the length
Now you can go to the American unit of measurement of length. Understanding them is not easier than in pints, pounds and ounces.
The smallest unit is 1 mil. It is equal to only 0.025 millimeters or one thousandth of an inch. Then there are points, lines, inches, hands, feet, yards, childbirth, chains, cables, miles and leagues. The latter is the longest unit of measure and is equal to three miles or 4828 meters - a very impressive distance.
Of course, ordinary Americans never use all of these units, content with just a few: inches, feet, yards and miles. The rest remain the destiny of specialists. For example, miles measure gaps when working with electronics. And the line is used when talking about weapons calibers (remember the Mosin rifle - a three-ruler). Kabeltovs are still used all over the world in the Navy. This unit, equal to 185 meters, perfectly complements the usual meters and nautical miles.
So, 1 inch is 2.54 centimeters. Therefore, for the transfer it is enough to multiply by this coefficient. One foot fits 30 centimeters. To convert feet to meters, divide the number by 3.3. The next popular unit is the yard. It equals 3 feet or 91 centimeters. Converting yards to meters is easy - you just need to multiply them by 0.91. So, 200 feet equals 182 meters. Finally, one mile equals 1609 meters. If you want to convert incomprehensible miles to kilometers, multiply the distance by a factor of 1.6 and get an approximate figure in kilometers.
When 50 degrees is cool
Even the temperature of Americans is measured not in the usual degrees Celsius, but on the Fahrenheit scale. Here, 100 degrees is hot, 50 is relatively warm, and zero forces you to put on a warm jacket.
Converting degrees from Fahrenheit to Celsius is more difficult than the above. To get the result you need to use complex formulas, but for most people for whom an error of 1-2 degrees is not critical, the following formula will be more convenient. From degrees Fahrenheit you need to subtract 32, divide the result by 2 and add 2. According to this formula, 100 degrees Fahrenheit turn into 36 degrees Celsius - a pretty accurate result.
Conclusion
Well that's all. Now you know all the most popular units in the USA for measuring volume, length and weight. And if necessary, you can easily translate them into familiar liters, meters and kilograms.