Why the Metric System Matters

What historical event was important in the adoption of a new unified measurement system?

• The 1918 Flu Epidemic

• The French Revolution

• The 1846 Potato Famine

• World War I

The word meter derives from a Greek word that means:

• global

• stride

• hearth

• measure

What is the origin of the length of 1 meter?

• The length of a pendulum that takes 1 second to swing left to right

• 1/10,000,000 of the distance between the Equator and North Pole

• The distance light travels in a fraction of a second

• The distance a 1kg object travels with a force of 1N

Imagine you are a French citizen after the Revolution. What would you like about the new metric system? What would you dislike? Why?

Which of these is NOT an advantage of the metric system?

• It helps make trade easier among countries

• It is officially adopted by every country around the world

• It provides a common language to discuss scientific data

• It is based on measurements of the Earth itself, not random standards

Why hasn't the United States of America switched to the metric system yet?

What do you think it would take for America to finally go metric? What are your ideas?