what is a smoot in distance?

Answer 1

1 Smoot = the height of the MIT fraternity pledge to Lambda Chi Alpha, Oliver R. Smoot.
1 Smoot = 5'-7" (1.70 m)

According to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot
"The smoot is a nonstandard unit of length created as part of an MIT fraternity prank. It is named after an MIT fraternity pledge to Lambda Chi Alpha, Oliver R. Smoot (class of 1962), who in October, 1958 was rolled head over heels by his fraternity brothers to measure the length of the Harvard Bridge between Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts. One smoot is equal to his height (five feet and seven inches -- 1.70 m), and the bridge's length was measured to be "364.4 smoots plus one ear". Everyone walking across the bridge today sees painted markings indicating how many smoots they are from the Boston-side river bank. The marks are repainted each year by the incoming associate member class (similar to pledge class) of Lambda Chi Alpha.

Markings typically appear every 10 smoots, but additional marks appear at other numbers in between. For example, the 70-smoot mark is omitted in favor of a mark for 69. The 182.2-smoot mark is accompanied by the words "Halfway to Hell" and an arrow pointing towards MIT. Each class also paints a special mark for their graduating year."

Answer 2

About 5' 7". This is the height of one Oliver Smoot, MIT '62, who was used as a measuring stick to calibrate the length of the Massachusetts Avenue bridge across the Charles River from Boston to Cambridge. The length of the bridge is 364.4 Smoots, plus an ear. The Wiki article quoted in a subsequent response is correct.

Answer 3

Smoot was a college student in New England. His chums laid him out on a bridge and turned him over and over across the bridge, using the head-to-toe approach. So a smoot is the height of the original student named smoot.