Lets say the weight of a mosquito is 0.00000002kg. As an European and metric user, I would just call this 0.02mg or 20 μ g. For volume I would similarly just say 0.02ml (milliliters).
How would Americans adress values of this magnitude in everyday language? Would you just use metric for these as well, or is there something else?
Edit: Thanks for all the responses 😇
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How often does this come up in “everyday” usage? In scientific contexts, where I imagine it’s far more likely to arise, yes, we’d probably use metric units.
We’d probably use grams as well for small masses. Volume would be a tossup between mL and cubic inches.
Imperial units are great for every day things, making a cake, filling your car with gas, etc. Measuring the volume of a mosquito isn’t really an every day task, and in the scientific realms we are more likely to use metric, especially for something like this since the amounts are so small.
The only people who would ever really be talking about such small masses/volumes would be some kind of scientist or a doctor (administering medication for example) which would be done in metric.
I cannot think of a time I or anyone else spoke about something that is 0.02mg in mass, in an everyday conversation.
The closest analogy to an everyday person would be in cooking but extremely small quantities are usually described in much more abstract terms (e.g., a “pinch of salt”)
We don’t deal with tiny weights or volume measurements in everyday situations, just scientific ones, where we’d use metric.
If we had to talk about the weight of a fly in a casual situation, it would be more likely to be figurative, such as weighing about the same as a grain of rice.
In everyday language? We wouldn’t address this.
We’d say “it’s real small. Like practically weighs nothing.”
“One mosquito” is a way better unit than microgram or thousandth of an ounce or whatever it would wind up being. You say 20 micrograms, I have no fucking reference how much that is. The smallest unit I use regularly is grains, because ammunition is weighed in it.
On the incredibly rare occasion that I even think about such tiny weights and volumes, I would use the appropriate metric unit.
The US Customary System doesn’t have convenient and well known units for things that small because the vast majority of people don’t deal with tiny stuff where those units would be useful. All the exceptions are covered by Americans who are also familiar with the metric system.
Metric is used in scientific contexts in the US, so the weight of a mosquito would definitely be discussed in (milli/micro) grams.
But, putting that aside, generally fractions of an ounce. The smallest US weight unit that sees any real use is the grain (≈65 milligrams).
Please tell me you don’t assume all Americans don’t ever use metric at all for anything simply because most of us don’t except for work. That’s lazy and stupid, and I choose to believe that you know better.
We’d probably use imprecise measures unless we needed to know the precise weight for scientific purposes. And if it’s for scientific purposes, we’re probably already using metric.
here’s a practical application of your question
FWIW, I bake in metric. primarily. Weighing ingredients is much more precise. But for small amounts in recipes, I still (and most recipes I use) call for teaspoons or tablespoons. A common measure is 1/2 tsp of salt. This is 3 grams. It’s easier and probably more precise to use the teaspoon volume measure for this ingredient because it’s a small amount.
There are also imprecise terms for small amounts such as a “pinch,” a “dash,” or smidge. At those amounts, precision isn’t really that important.
And BTW – a lot of us can bounce back and forth between metric and US customary. It’s not really that hard.
This would only come up in a science context and we would use metric.
Questions like this make me wonder what’s happening in the lives of Europeans that they need to talk about such measurements day to day.
For scientific or industrial purposes we’d probably just use metric as well.
For small weight measures, “grains” are sometimes used. I’d say most commonly you’d find this in the firearms community. 1 gram = ~15 grains. It’s really not all that common in everyday life to be weighing things that small though!
A mosquito would be less than a tenth of a grain. I’d think in that specific context, in like a scientific situation, it’d probably be grams. SI is fairly common in STEM.
The weight of a mosquito is not an everyday thing to be measuring or talking about, that’s scientist shit so id imagine they’d be using metric.
It depends on the application. I’m sorry that our universal use of both systems simultaneously and ambidextrously confuses Europeans.
For incredibly small weights, yes, metric makes the most sense. If I’m weighing something heavier, like a person or beer, I’d use a more logical unit like a stone or a hogshead.
Grams
You might find it interesting, but every package of consumer goods has both measurements listed on the packaging. So that can of beer will have both Oz and ML. That goes for lengths, weight, and everything. Look at any label of a package, can, jar, new coffee maker, anything with a label and you’ll find both. So to answer your question…. Yes we use both!
I just want to know what if going on over there that it’s an everyday thing to measure the weight of a mosquito
We use the metric system at work.
On the rare occasions you’d be dealing with measures that small, we’d likely use grams and mL. Prescribed liquid medicine is usually measured in mL. I always remember that a paper clip weighs about a gram.
Metric, but it’s only ever come up in a lab setting or medicine doses where I’m given pills that contain some fixed number of milligrams of a drug.
I can’t really measure anything smaller than 5 g at home, or smaller than 1/4 teaspoon (1.2 ml). My measuring spoons are not metric, so I never use metric for small measurements and fudging a bit is just fine for cooking.
If I was giving the weight of a mosquito in everyday terms, I’d call it “really, really light.” I’d only need an exact number or even an approximation if I was doing something scientific.
We would use mg because we learn both in school. Also, the only time you would measure something that small would be in a scientific setting, which would be using metric.
The only people who deal with those kinds of weights and volumes are scientists, who use metric.
For distance, I am aware of some contexts where very small units of distance are used in US Customary units. The Foot (originally the Survey Foot but that recently got standardized into the regular Foot) is the base unit. You then have a tenth of a Foot (aka, a Tenth), a hundredth of a Foot (aka, a Hundreth), and a thousandth of a Foot (aka, a Thousandth). In other contexts, you will see the Inch as the base units with it being fractionalized instead of decimalized. So, 1/2″, 1/4″, 1/8″, 1/16″, 1/32″, 1/64″, and any associated measurements (for example, 3/8″). There’s also wire gauge which is a whole separate unit of measurement (larger numbers are smaller sizes). For stuff that is smaller than what you’ll find in a typical workshop, it’s only scientists using it so you’ll typically see everything in metric.
If I ever need to be that precise in my daily language I would probably rip my eyeballs out.
Strangely enough, we use mosquitos.
Like “this object weighs about as much as four mosquitoes”
You must have known this, otherwise why would you have chosen mosquitoes?
The smallest thing I weigh is 25g coffee beans for single serving of coffee.
We use grams like you do. Certain fields also use [grains](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grain_(unit)), which is mostly used today in firearms bullet and propellant measurement.
Grams or mg for mass, mL for volume.
We wouldn’t. Things that small have no need to be specific in every day conversation situations.
In scientific or medical situations when we may need to discuss things we use metric.
I don’t why no one has mentioned this. We use mg on a daily basis for drug doses. Example “Tylenol has 325 mg of Acetaminophen”
Most medical and scientific measurements are made using metric with a few exceptions. Example: large distances use feet and miles. When I worked as an environmental geologist, we used phrases like “that geologic unit is 10 ft think” but in our report and lab work we would say “we collected 2 kg of soil and are expecting to find 400 µg of lead.
If someone is measuring the weight of a single mosquito, then that person is probably some kind of scientist, and thus would be using metric anyways.