250 words essay Write a short essay about the international

Write a short essay about the international units system (about 250 words). In this essay, you need to explain the difference between the International System of Units and the English Unit system, listing the main countries using International units only, English units only, or both. Please also clearly comment on the importance and convenience of international units in solving problems involving international teams or in designing a product targeting a global market. (Specifically, please consider the issue of tools for repair and maintenance.) Please also discuss whether you prefer to buy products designed with the metric system or the English system.

Solution

There are two sets of units: one is metric which is based on kg, m and second & base 10 and the other English which is based on pound, foot and second. The Internation System of Units (also known as SI units) is based on the metric system, kg for mass, meter for lenth and second for time.

English system is primarily being used in earstwhile colonies of England namely USA, Australia, India... in addition to United Kingdom. However few countries such as South Africa, India... have adopted officially the SI system completely though English system is still used at some level especially small scale fabrication and manufacturings. Countries like USA and UK are still sticking with FPS (Foot-Pound-Second or English systems) though they are slowly transitioning to the SI system. Most countries in Europe (except those in UK), Japan, Brazil... are using SI system as primary unit.

The SI unit has advantage in terms of reach and ease of communication. However, the issue of tools repair and maintenance needs to be dealt in the unit system in which it was originally designed and manufactured. For example, it would not be a good technical approach to replace a broken part fabricated in SI unit when the mating componenets were fabricated using tolerances in English unit. The absolute value of tolerances used in design and manufacturing are different in the two units and may not meet the design criteria if two are mixed.

I would prefer to buy a product designed with metric (SI) systems as I am more used to it and have feel for the values specified in this unit.