Articles 

Torque vs. Work – A Discussion of Units

2011-02-23

For those of you living in Europe and Asia, SI units (Le Système International d’Unités) or International System of Units is a way of life. Everyone understands their meaning and are part of everyday life. In the United States, we are forced to live with dual standards of SI and English units, even-though we were supposed to have totally converted to metric over 40 years ago. There is a usage difference between the engineering/scientific committees and the manufacturing and public sectors of the United States. This sometimes creates problems and confusion. This confusion reached its pinnacle when the National Space and Atmospheric Administration (NASA) lost the Mars Climate Orbiter in 1999 when the agency operated in metric units and one of its suppliers operated in English units.