TMac3000
Evil Republican
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2008
- Messages
- 2,773
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- Points
- 36
- Location
- Flying an air liner to the moon
Which one is better? I say it depends on what you want to do.
For aviation (atmospheric) I prefer imperial. I can convert quickly in my head, but if I use imperial to begin with, I don't have to convert. I know what 3,000 feet means. As opposed to: "Altitude 900 meters. Okay, so that's, what, about 3,000 feet? Yeah, that's right."
For space flight, I prefer metric, because that's how I first encountered orbital altitudes. "Periapsis 170 miles? Crap, I'm gonna burn up in the atmosphere! No, wait a second, that's about 270 kilometers, so I'm okay..." The only thing that bugs me is using seconds for everything. I hate having to use a calculator to figure out how long something is going to take.
For all my real life pursuits (driving, buying grocerys, measuring windows, etc.), imperial is the way to go.
For weighing trucks at weigh stations: imperial
For nursing and other more scientific professions: metric
For cooking: imperial
Quick conversions for those who don't know them:
300 m/s = about Mach 1 at sea level
3000 meters = 10,000 feet. 5,000-10,000 meters is normal cruising altitude. 20,000 meters is the edge of normal flying altitude.
160 km = about 100 miles
For aviation (atmospheric) I prefer imperial. I can convert quickly in my head, but if I use imperial to begin with, I don't have to convert. I know what 3,000 feet means. As opposed to: "Altitude 900 meters. Okay, so that's, what, about 3,000 feet? Yeah, that's right."
For space flight, I prefer metric, because that's how I first encountered orbital altitudes. "Periapsis 170 miles? Crap, I'm gonna burn up in the atmosphere! No, wait a second, that's about 270 kilometers, so I'm okay..." The only thing that bugs me is using seconds for everything. I hate having to use a calculator to figure out how long something is going to take.
For all my real life pursuits (driving, buying grocerys, measuring windows, etc.), imperial is the way to go.
For weighing trucks at weigh stations: imperial
For nursing and other more scientific professions: metric
For cooking: imperial
Quick conversions for those who don't know them:
300 m/s = about Mach 1 at sea level
3000 meters = 10,000 feet. 5,000-10,000 meters is normal cruising altitude. 20,000 meters is the edge of normal flying altitude.
160 km = about 100 miles