how long ia a meter?

Answer 1

it is exactly one meter long...
the standard is in Paris:

The French originated the meter in the 1790s as one/ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the north pole along a meridian through Paris. It is realistically represented by the distance between two marks on an iron bar kept in Paris. The International Bureau of Weights and Measures, created in 1875, upgraded the bar to one made of 90 percent platinum/10 percent iridium alloy.

In 1960 the meter was redefined as 1,650,763.73 wavelengths of orange-red light, in a vacuum, produced by burning the element krypton (Kr-86). More recently (1984), the Geneva Conference on Weights and Measures has defined the meter as the distance light travels, in a vacuum, in 1/299,792,458 seconds with time measured by a cesium-133 atomic clock which emits pulses of radiation at very rapid, regular intervals.

None of the definitions changed the length of the meter, but merely allowed this length to be duplicated more precisely.

Our English foot has not been so constant. The U. S. Congress legalized the use of the metric system in 1866 on the basis that one meter is exactly equal to 39.37 inches. In 1959 a number of English-speaking countries agreed that an inch is exactly equal to 2.54 centimeters so that the International foot is exactly equal to 0.3048 meters. The United States retained the old 1866 equivalency and called it the U. S. Survey foot so that 1 U. S. Survey foot equals 1.000002 International feet.
it is also equal to 27 French (oops! Freedom fries) lined up in a single line...

Answer 2

Used to be 1 10-millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the equator, but now it's a long complex multiple of the wavelength of a particular color of light in the spectrum of one of the elements, yellow in sodium, I think.

Wrong, krypton, it was, and that's now almost half a century out of date. I'm showing my age. Here it is --

The meter (m) is the Si unit of length and is defined as the length of the path traveled by light in vacuum during the time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second.[ 3 ] This replaces the two previous definitions of the meter: the original adopted by CGPM in 1889 based on a platinum-iridium prototype bar, and a definition adopted in 1960 based on a krypton­86 radiation from an electrical discharge lamp. In each case, the change in definition achieved not only an increase in accuracy, but also progress toward the goal of using fundamental physical quantities as standards, in particular, the quantum mechanical characteristics of atomic systems.

Answer 3

A meter is defined by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures as the distance travelled by light in absolute vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.

Answer 4

Pshaw to your third world units...

Who the heck can remembr or even grasp the "distance travelled by light in absolute vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second???"

A yard is the distance from the tip of Heny the First's nose to the end of his thumb. That distance can be realized... It's hanging on the wall of the Royal Observatory for everyone to go and see.

The French can keep their silly ideas to themselves and go back to eating horse meat and raw hamburger!

Answer 5

It took me 2 seconds to lay out a meter with my tape
But I started with it in my hand and I had to start & stop the timer.
But is that really the question you wanted to ask
Why not check the Yahoo Toolbar Reference and the dictionary.

Answer 6

one meter is 100 cm

Answer 7

about a meter long

Answer 8

39.37 inches