Metric System
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The metric system or SI is the most widely used measuring system in the world. It is the first system to use a decimal system that makes it easy to convert from one unit to another. It is also the first one to be based upon invariable quantities in nature. And it consists of 7 different base units; all others are derived from these units. The seven base units are: The meter for distance, the ampere for electric current, the kilogram for mass, the candela for light intensity, the Kelvin for temperature, the mole for substance amount and the second for time. All others come from these seven base units.
The metric system was created in an effort to create a simple and easy to use measuring system that would be universally acceptable. For hundreds of years people in France were trying to come up with a new system, but it wasn't until The French Revolution that the time was just right for creating the metric system. In 1790 the French Academy of Science was commissioned by the National Assembly to design a new system of units for use throughout the world. They decided that this system should have the following attributes:
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