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Category Archives: Science
Joules – rare but minor progress for metrication
After many recent setbacks, it is pleasing to report a small but significant bit of progress in the long campaign to make the metric system (SI) the default system of measurement in the UK. This minor (but perhaps somewhat pyrrhic) … Continue reading
Posted in Consumer affairs, Health, Science, Technical
Tagged calorie, front of pack, joule
28 Comments
Familiar with imperial? Do you know that…?
Miles, yards, feet and inches, pints, pounds and stones. Yes, fifty years after the UK embarked on the metric transition, we still need to be familiar with some of those old units. In this article, Ronnie Cohen looks at some … Continue reading
Posted in Consumer affairs, Education, General, History, Law, Science
Tagged imperial measures, metric, weights and measures
2 Comments
1862 report from the Select Committee on weights and measures
The question of adopting metric measures in the UK is not a new proposition; in 1862 Parliament’s Select Committee on Weights and Measures considered the matter and came down firmly in favour of metrication. A century and a half later, … Continue reading
Posted in Law, Science, Technical, Views from abroad
Tagged imperial measures, measurement units, metric, metrication, UK Parliament, weights and measures
7 Comments
A UK metric time line from 1980
In June last year, we published a time line up to 1980 showing progress towards the adoption of a single, simple, logical and coherent measurement system in the British Isles. We now bring this story up to date.
Posted in Consumer affairs, Education, General, Health, History, Law, Road signs, Science, Sport, Technical
Tagged Britain, imperial, metric, metrication, time line, UK
7 Comments
A trip to the Imperial Scrapyard
When consulting a reference book from 1896, we came across an article about imperial measures which provides a timely reminder that, even in its heyday, this ‘system’ was not as straightforward as some would now have us believe.
Posted in Consumer affairs, Education, General, History, Science
Tagged Education, gallon, imperial measures, weights and measures
7 Comments
Cabinet Office gets its kilowatts in a twist
Visitors to the Cabinet Office website will see that this branch of the Government is measuring its energy use in “kilowatt-hours per hour”. It is a sad reflection on the quality of civil service support given to this crucial part … Continue reading
Posted in Education, General, Science, Technical
Tagged Cabinet Office, energy, joule, measurement units, No 10
20 Comments
50 years of Celsius weather forecasts – time to kill off Fahrenheit for good?
Fifty years ago, on 15th October 1962, British weather forecasts switched over from the Fahrenheit scale to Celsius. Fifty years on, some parts of the British media inexplicably cling on to Fahrenheit measures, and the UK Metric Association (UKMA) says … Continue reading
Two enduring controversies are highlighted by a food labelling consultation
A recent consultation by the UK Department of Health about food labelling has drawn attention to two long-standing issues, both relating to food energy and the calorie.
Posted in Consumer affairs, Health, Science
Tagged calorie, Department of Health, energy, food energy, food-labelling, joule
7 Comments
NASA’s Curiosity rover lands on Mars
A recent comment on UKMA’s Facebook page has prompted Metric Views to look into NASA’s latest mission to Mars. This is reported to have landed at 06:32 BST on Monday 6 August.
Posted in General, Science, Technical, Views from abroad
Tagged Curiosity rover, Mars, NASA
9 Comments
A better use of multiples?
To ease the transition to metric measures, straight substitution of units is often used – kg for pounds, metres for yards, km for miles and so on. Ronnie Cohen argues that, as a result, we fail to take advantage of … Continue reading