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Dimensions

Dimensions (GB)

The "International Metre Convention" (in Switzerland Metervertrag), is an international treaty concluded on 20 May 1875, in which the 17 signatory states were "guided by the desire to secure international agreement and the perfection of the metric system". All internationally valid weights and measures today are based on the metric system. On 20 October 1983, the International Commission on Weights and Measures defined a metre as follows: The metre is the length of the distance travelled by light in a vacuum in the time interval of 1/299792458 of a second.

Maße - Elle und Urmeter

The picture on the left shows a cubit on the Old Town Hall in Braunschweig (Lower Saxony, Germany). The picture on the right shows the standard metre (Urmeter) made in 1797 and mounted on the façade of 36 rue de Vaugirard in Paris (France).

Exceptions

Only the USA as well as Myanmar and Liberia have not yet adopted the metric system as mandatory, although it is used in practice by the latter two. Mostly for traditional or aesthetic reasons, there was or is resistance to its introduction in the USA, Great Britain, Canada (except Québec) and Japan. Relics of old systems can be found in many countries, partly in the form of redefined ("metricated") units (for example, pounds to 500 g) and partly due to the influence of the US economy (customs, as for example in diagonally measured screen sizes to this day).

Anglo-American systems of measurement

The Anglo-American systems of measurement have their origins in older English systems and were also used in other Commonwealth countries and colonies before the metric system was introduced. The "Imperial System" was introduced in 1824. Today they are used as "customary units" almost only in the USA and partly in England. The ancient Roman hollow measures are included under Congius. For lists of units of measure in connection with wine, see the keywords barrel types, surface measures, bottles, hollow measures, units of measure and wine vessels.

Elle: CC BY-SA 3.0, link
Urmeter: par LPLT - Travail personnel, CC BY-SA 3.0, Lien

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