Quote:
Originally Posted by savageblue  I know that the inch was established based on some British king's thumb, but I don't know where the hell the centimeter came from.  |
I believe all metric measurements are derived from water and the distance from the North Pole through Paris to the equator. (Really scientific huh?) That length measurement divided by 10,000,000 is a meter. A centimeter is 1/100 of a meter.
The capacity of one cubic decimeter is a liter.
The mass of one liter of water is a kilogram.
0 degrees celsius is the temp where water freezes, 100 degrees celsius is when water boils.
That is the derivation of the metric system in a nutshell -so logical, so elegant compared to the imperial system.