Talk:History of the metric system

Why Lefevre-Gineau changed the reference temperature from the freezing point to the point of maximum density?

In the current article, this note gives three hypothetical reasons why Lefevre-Gineau changed the reference temperature from the freezing point to the point of maximum density. However, the first two reasons seem to be invalid: (1) Although Lefevre-Gineau changed the reference temperature from 0 °C to 4 °C, he still chose to perform the main experiment at 0,3 °C instead of 4 °C. (2) The temperature of maximum density can be used without specifying its value in celsius (4 °C), but that was not an improvement because the freezing point too can be used without specifying its value in celsius (0 °C). Ceinturion (talk) 13:56, 20 October 2021 (UTC)

Cassini's survey & missing info tag

I've gotten tired of repeatedly reading about the Brown Dog Affair on the main page's Dec. 10 On this day and this article seems like the most deserving replacement, except that the Missing info tag on History_of_the_metric_system#The_shape_and_size_of_the_Earth is a disqualifier. Since I am equally impressed and overwhelmed by @Sbalfour:'s energy in the Jan. 2018 rewrite, where exactly should a rescue start? "Below" I guess refers to History_of_the_metric_system#Meridional_survey. The tagged section though has a main article link, Figure of Earth and from there one discovers forking Earth's radius, Earth's circumference, Meridian_arc#History. It seems to me though that the tag could be removed if Main|Figure of Earth were replaced with main History of the metre. Sparafucil (talk) 22:06, 10 December 2021 (UTC)

Tle

Which country the metric system of measurement is originated that is also known as the S I INTERNATIONAL STANDARD 175.176.67.185 (talk) 02:23, 28 May 2022 (UTC)

Work and energy section relevance

I could not see the relationship between the content of the "Work and energy" section and the topic of this article. For that reason I deleted it, but NebY quickly reverted me saying the development of units of measurement for work and energy is part of the history of the metric system. That may be true, but none of the section content says anything about that.

The content of the section does not describe the units that Joule used for the measurement of work and energy, although interestingly, the Hargrove source does mention the units he used when it says In describing the mechanical equivalent of heat, he monitored the heating of water in °F/pound and expressed work in ft-lb. Additionally, the content is mostly original research, and unsupported by the cited sources.

I propose removing it again as being off-topic, or at least replacing it with something that actually does describe how the development of units of measurement for work and energy is part of the history of the metric system. -- DeFacto (talk). 21:59, 27 January 2023 (UTC)

Seems to me that work, energy, and more specifically power, are related to the history. Consider that the watt balance is used as part of the recent redefinition. The Joule experiments were part of understanding conservation of energy, which allows the unit to be useful. That said, I don't know that it should be the current wording, or position in the article. Gah4 (talk) 00:12, 28 January 2023 (UTC)

In his New Determination of the Mechanical Equivalent of Heat (1878), Joule described how Hirn had preceded him and quoted Hirn's use of the calorie for work. On the other hand, I see Joule uses grains, degrees Fahrenheit, feet, bar and others in that paper but not gramme or degree Centigrade. He does use gramme and degree Centigrade many times in other papers, and I can't assure you he never does in relating heat and work. I agree this subsection of a section on the development of metric units to measure different quantities, the application of metric units to further quantities and the adoption of other units into the metric system could bear improvement. NebY (talk) 14:43, 28 January 2023 (UTC)