Americans still use Fahrenheit while Everyone else is On Celsius - Let's have a discussion!

Dear Steemit Friends,

I was recently having a conversation with my wife when the topic all of a sudden changed to a discussion about temperature and the metric system. As a brief background, I was born and raised in the United States. For the past 11 years, I lived in the Philippines, which incidentally, is also where my wife is from. We recently moved back to Texas and as a habit, when we discuss temperatures and distances, I use Fahrenheit and Miles, and she tends to use Celsius and Kilometers. These conversations always lead to a pause where we both end up needing to convert in order to relate.

Growing up in the United States, I am accustomed to using Fahrenheit and Miles, presumably, as are most Americans you will speak to. Going back to our conversation, she asked me, why Americans hadn't switched to Celsius and the Metric System. Understandably, I did not have an answer for her because I didn't know why. In fact, until today, I did not even realize that the United States was one, if not the only country who wasn't using Celsius and the Metric system compared to the rest of the world.

This was never really a concern while I was living in the Philippines for the last 11 years since I adapted to using the system that everyone else was using. I never really thought to look into why though. During our conversation, it got me thinking and I decided to do a little research.

A bit of History

Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit - Image Source

Fahrenheit was created and established in the early 18th century by Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, a German scientist born in Poland in 1686. His invention of the thermometers provided a more reliable way to measure temperature objectively in a time where measuring temperature was a problem. According to wikopedia,

Fahrenheit set zero at the lowest temperature he could get a water and salt mixture to reach. He then used a (very slightly incorrect) measurement of the average human body temperature, 96 degrees, as the second fixed point in the system. The resulting schema set the boiling point of water at 212 degrees, and the freezing point at 32 degrees.

For his contribution, Fahrenheit was inducted into the British Royal Society and as the British empire grew, so did the adoption of his system.

Anders Celsius (1701 - 1744) - Image Source

Celsius was then invented in 1742 by Swedish astronomer named Anders Celsius and was considered a more accurate measure of temperature and during the year 1790 was integrated into the metric system. The metric system's simplicity and scientific use helped to spread it, and Celsius, throughout the world in a process called metrication. Most countries, starting with those under British influence began to convert. This move made sense to most of the world because it would make scientific cooperation much easier across nations.

It's uncertain why the United States has not adopted the metric system and converted to using Celsius, however, education.org provides a good analogy:

The answer to the question is in Sir Isaac Newton's first law of motion, which is more commonly known as inertia. That is, that when something gets going it is hard to stop it or change its direction.

It's not that Americans are too stubborn or unwilling to conform, but probably just because everyone has just become accustomed to a certain of doing things and perceiving things. Switching to the metric system would involve a lot of changes across the country and adjusting habits that we have been used to for generations.

Image Source

in 1975, Congress did, in fact, make an attempt to align the United States with the rest of the world by passing the Metric Conversion Act. The Act, however, failed to make any real traction because it called for a voluntary transition to the metric system and the use of Celsius, rather than a mandatory change. They expected people to convert gradually, however, because it was voluntary people were slow to adopt or even attempt to change.

Image Source

Today in the US most are offered the option of both Celsius and Fahrenheit, but unlike most countries, or at least in my opinion, most people still use Fahrenheit in general conversations. I myself flip-flop between both depending who I am speaking with, but when it comes to distances, I still use miles vs the metric system which the world uses. The metric system does make sense and when you think about it measuring temperatures in Celsius makes sense as well. It's just hard "to teach an old dog new tricks."

What system of measurement and temperature do you use? I assume the large part of the American population use Fahrenheit and the rest of the majority of the world uses Celsius. Let me know if my observations are accurate and what your thoughts are in the comments below. I hope you enjoyed the small bit of history that I have researched and shared.

If you have any questions, inputs, or feedback, please feel free to post a comment below. I would also appreciate support in the form of Upvoting, Following, and Re-steeming my post if you found it informative.