Name: TED-ED】なぜメートル法が重要なのか - Matt Anticole (【TED-Ed】Why the metric system matters - Matt Anticole)
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T06:23:49.000Z
Duration: 5 min 8 s
Description: VoiceTubeの動画で発音を聞きながら英語表現を覚えよう！学べる英語：

様態の副詞

have to do with the time NASA accidentally crashed a $200 million orbiter

in converting between  two measurement systems,

So what's the connection to the French Revolution?

For the majority of recorded  human history,

units like the weight of a grain or the length of a hand weren't exact

And different regions didn't just use varying measurements.

They had completely different  number systems as well.

By the late Middle Ages, the Hindu-Arabic decimal system

mostly replaced Roman numerals  and fractions in Europe,

but efforts by scholars like John Wilkins to promote standard decimal-based measures

With a quarter million different units in France alone,

any widespread change would require massive disruption.

The leaders of the French Revolution didn't just overthrow the monarchy.

They sought to completely  transform society

according to the rational principles of the Enlightenment.

the Academy of Sciences convened to reform the system of measurements.

Old standards based on arbitrary authority or local traditions

were replaced with mathematical and natural relationships.

For example, the meter, from the Greek word for measure,

was defined as 1/10,000,000 between the Equator and North Pole.

And the new metric system was, in the words of the Marquis de Condorcet,

Standardizing measurements had political advantages

Nobles could no longer manipulate local units to extract more rent from commoners,

while the government could collect taxes more efficiently.

And switching to a new Republican Calendar with ten-day weeks

reduced church power  by eliminating Sundays.

At first, people used new units alongside old ones,

and the Republican Calendar  was eventually abandoned.

he allowed small businesses  to use traditional measurements

But the metric system remained standard for formal use,

and it spread across the continent, along with France's borders.

While Napoléon's empire  lasted eight years,

Some European countries reverted to old measurements upon independence.

Others realized the value  of standardization

After Portugal and the Netherlands switched to metric voluntarily,

with colonial empires spreading the system around the world.

Britain had resisted revolutionary ideas and retained its traditional units.

But over the next two centuries, the British Empire slowly transitioned,

first approving the metric system as an optional alternative

However, this switch came too late for thirteen former colonies

The United States of America stuck with the English units of its colonial past

and today remains one  of only three countries

which haven't fully embraced  the metric system.

Despite constant initiatives  for metrication,

many Americans consider units like feet and pounds more intuitive.

And ironically, some regard the once revolutionary metric system

Nevertheless, the metric system is almost universally used in science and medicine,

and it continues to evolve according to its original principles.

standard units were actually defined by  carefully maintained physical prototypes.

But thanks to improving technology and precision,

these objects with limited access and unreliable longevity

are now being replaced with standards based on universal constants,

Consistent measurements are such an integral part of our daily lives

that it's hard to appreciate what a major accomplishment for humanity they've been.

And just as it arose  from a political revolution,

the metric remains crucial for  the scientific revolutions to come.

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TED-ED】なぜメートル法が重要なのか - Matt Anticole (【TED-Ed】Why the metric system matters - Matt Anticole)

completely

embrace

eliminate

standard