International System of Units
The SI fills the role of a more efficient system of measurement perfectly. The SI was designed to be organized and simple so measurements could be portrayed and utilized without hassle. In his article “Metric System”, Wolke describes the purpose of the General Conference of Weights and Measures, saying, “The 11th General Conference on Weights and Measures, held in 1960, refined the system and adopted the French name Système International d'Unités, abbreviated SI” (par 3). This conference, as well as the preceding ten conferences, were held in the efforts of creating a system of measurement based on nature, as opposed to being based on the human body and its immediate environment. Even further, this system of measurement limited its number of basic units, replacing them with set variants of each basic unit set to powers of ten for larger and smaller quantities, for all measurements. Wolke states very clearly in his article the differences between the English System’s and the metric system’s basic units:
“There are many English units, including buckets, butts, chains, cords, drams, ells, fathoms, firkins, gills, grains, hands, knots, leagues, three different kinds of miles, four kinds of ounces, and five kinds of tons, to name just a few. There are literally hundreds more. For measuring volume or bulk alone, the English system uses ounces, pints, quarts, gallons, barrels and bushels, among many others. In the metric system, on the other hand, there is only one basic unit for each type of quantity.” (par 10)
What is the lesson here? The SI, even in its original form, is much more efficient than the English System, and, subsequently, the American System of Measurement.
