nautical miles...?

Question

hi guys... can someone explain the difference between 'nautical miles' and normal/land miles... ?? and what determines a nautical mile..?? thanks.....

Answer 1

Standard miles are based on travel on a flat surface. This is used because most land travel is short enough that the curvature of the Earth does not need to be taken into account. Nautical miles do take the curvature of the Earth into account, as ships may travel very long distances. While the pratical difference between the two is extremely small in short distances, over time it becomes very important.

Answer 2

Lots of correct responses here, and some mistakes. A "Statute mile" is what we use to measure distance on land and is 5280 ft long. A "Nautical mile is used to measure distance on the sea and in the air and is 1.15 times greater than a statute mile or 6076 ft long. Yes it equals 1 minute of longitude ONLY at the equator but a minute of latitude anywhere is also a nautical mile. This is because lines of latitude are parallel and keep the same distance apart all the way around the globe. Lines of longitude are furthest apart at the equator and get closer together when moving towards the poles.

Answer 3

The Nautical Mile is the agreed upon distance by all nations and ships at sea.
A nautical mile is based on the circumference of the planet Earth. If you were to cut the Earth in half at the equator, you could pick up one of the halves and look at the equator as a circle. You could divide that circle into 360 degrees. You could then divide a degree into 60 minutes. A minute of arc on the planet Earth is 1 nautical mile. This unit of measurement is used by all nations for air and sea travel.

A knot is a unit of measure for speed. If you are traveling at a speed of 1 nautical mile per hour, you are said to be traveling at a speed of 1 knot.

A kilometer is also defined using the planet Earth as a standard of distance. If you were to take the Earth and cut it in half along a line passing from the North Pole through Paris, and then measure the distance of the curve running from the North Pole to the equator on that circle, and then divide that distance by 10,000, you would have the traditional unit for the kilometer as defined in 1791 by the French Academy of Sciences.

A nautical mile is 1,852 meters, or 1.852 kilometers. In the English measurement system, a nautical mile is 1.1508 miles, or 6,076 feet.

To travel around the Earth at the equator, you would have to travel (360 * 60) 21,600 nautical miles, 24,857 miles or 40,003 kilometers
That splains it better than I can.

Answer 4

A Statute Mile (land mile) is 5280 feet. A Nautical Mile is 6076 feet.

The number of feet in a Nautical mile is the equivalent of one minute of arc at the equator.

The number of feet in a statute mile is based on the length of one side of a square plot of land of 640 acres in area.

The conversion factor is 1.15 SM = 1 MN. It's not exact (1.150779 is) but is close enough for most situations.

Answer 5

When traveling on a road, statute miles work, 5280 feet. When traveling on the water or in the air there are no roads so we use the curve of the earth to measure. 1 nautical mile is 1 minute of a degree of latitude at the equator. it is 6060 feet or 1.15 statute miles.

Answer 6

1 regular mile is equal to 0.868976242 nautical miles. Like the first answer said, you can just search it on Google, its really easy.

Answer 7

nautical miles for sea, regular miles over land. Small fractional difference between the two that you can look up on the internet . Not worth considering unless you are ship captian, then you would not be asking here.

Answer 8

A nautical mile was originally defined as one minute of arc on the earth's surface. This varied depending on latitude so it was given a standardised value of 1.15 miles.

Answer 9

If you want to change standard miles into natical miles then just multiply the standard ones by 1.15 and that will give you the figure in nautical miles.

Answer 10

Sandy has the right formula.