What is this?
Ever went to the store to buy some coca cola? Of course, you have!
Alright then, next question! How much coke do you want to buy? How do you measure it?
Hmm…. A stomachful? Maybe about 6 glasses? Or perhaps enough to fill the trunk of your car?
How do you buy by the amount you want?
Well, the answer is pretty obvious, isn’t it? One giant bottle please!
Ok then, how much is in this bottle?
The answer: 2 liters.
Liters? Ah, the measurement of volume! Doesn’t this make it easier? Now you can just go to the cashier with 12 liters of coke knowing that it will be enough to fill up your car and, possibly, your fridge.
This is what the measurement system is used for! Not just for buying coke or any fizzy drinks of your choice, but also for measuring the weight of the cake you want to buy with it, the volume of fuel you want to put in your car so that it can get you home, and much, much more!
The system of measurements exists so that we can divide physical aspects of objects in aspects of their mass, volume, and length, quantify those divisions, and then relate these divisions to each other as scalable units to use them on a daily basis.
In other words, systems of measurements exist to allow us to measure things accurately. These methods are one of the reasons why mankind has been able to evolve and achieve as much as it has in the past. These are so commonplace that we use them instinctively to carry on our daily lives without thinking about how important they are to the scientific community and the effects that they have on every discovery and invention that can potentially change our lives forever.
For instance, their usage could range from the weight you are going to gain after drinking all that coke to the last drop of liquid oxygen needed in your imaginary, sugar rush induced, hallucination of a rocket to take you to Uranus.
Other examples can range from measuring the cross section of a microscopic nanotube to measuring the distance of the International Space Station from the earth at any given time. Or perhaps Measuring the weight of a thin layer of graphene to measuring the weight of the SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket.
Their importance is so paramount that it is vital to know which system of measurement should be used, and where should it be used. Because, as of now, multiple systems exist with varying degrees of accuracy. Some universally accepted and some others still used for reasons that has baffled psychologists and scientists alike.
To start with, we shall be discussing the two most commonplace systems of measurement:
The metric and the imperial systems!
stay tuned for Part 2!