Chapter 09 — Big & Curious
Why do Americans use imperial when everyone else uses metric?
The US legally adopted the metric system in 1975 but made it voluntary, and momentum carried imperial through schools, road signs, and consumer goods. Science, medicine, the military and most industry already work in metric. The cost of a full switch is now political, not practical.
Follow-up questions
Which countries still use imperial?
Officially: the United States, Liberia, and Myanmar. The UK uses a mixed system — metric in shops, miles on roads, pints in pubs.
Quick conversions worth memorising?
1 inch ≈ 2.5 cm, 1 foot ≈ 30 cm, 1 mile ≈ 1.6 km, 1 kg ≈ 2.2 lb, 1 litre ≈ 1 US quart, 0 °C = 32 °F.
Why is Fahrenheit so weird?
Anchored to brine freezing (0 °F) and human body temperature (originally 96 °F, later corrected). Useful for weather (0–100 °F covers most of life), unhelpful for science.
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