Notes From Nature Talk

inches, feet and meters

  • El_Lion by El_Lion

    Completely out of curiosity: It there any rule what to use in science? I always got told that science uses the metric system. But from the records (Herbarium) there seems to be a colorful mixture. Usually in one record I find plant height in meters, distances in miles, elevation in feet. But I think I saw dm (which is VERY old, I had "decimeters" mentioned in elementary school and never used it since), but also km and inches and meters for elevation.
    This mixture looks so funny to me. But well, I'm used to use the metric system exclusively. 😛

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  • darryluk by darryluk

    Generally we are told to put what is on the card.

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  • SandersClan by SandersClan

    I wouldn't trust my own conversions, so I'm happy to just type what's on there!

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  • El_Lion by El_Lion

    Ummh.... sorry, slight misunderstanding. Sorry, but probably I wasn't completely clear: Of course, I type whatever I find on the cards. I was just curious IN GENERAL what is used in sciences since I got told the metric system is the usual.
    Or in other words: Is it's totally normal for you to live with a complete mixture of metric and US system?

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  • SandersClan by SandersClan

    Ohhhh! It's kind of the usual thing to see both in certain situations, although personally, this is how it is for me: I automatically term things in inches, feet, yards, etc. When I see anything metric my first thought is, 'Oh, must be either scientific or from another country'. I curse silently, then do a rough conversion between cent./inches or yards/meters. If it's kilometers or anything else I figure it's either a very long or very short measurement and move on. I'm a little ashamed to admit that the 'lazy American' thing might apply to me in this case! 😛

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  • nosenabook by nosenabook in response to El_Lion's comment.

    Maybe these American collectors took along their trusty walking sticks marked in meters for measuring plants, but got the other information from a local map, which would have elevation in feet, and distance in miles.

    (I can't otherwise figure out how they got elevation OR distance.)

    I had to use the metric system even back in high school chemistry and biology, so I associate metrics with the sciences, too.

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  • xairbusdriver by xairbusdriver

    I figure most of the distances were registered by driving a vehicle. Not sure about horse-drawn wagons, but most cars in the US still use miles for distances... even 'foreign' cars (which are more likely made in America, now days!). 😉

    "Yards" are familiar for distances between football goal posts! 😛

    Unfortunately, most war veterans know more about kilometers for distances. 😦

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