2007-06-13 00:33:51 · 24 answers · asked by Albert p 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Engineering
The meter is the greatest French contribution to modern life (except garlic sausage).
It was originally defined as the length of a simple pendulum with a natural period of 2 seconds, then later more colloquially as 1/10,000,000 of the distance from the equator to the north pole on the line of longitude passing through Paris (at mean sea level).
So that we didn't have to start pacing this out every time we wanted a standard meter they thoughtfully marked it on a piece brass bar, then platinum bar and finally platinum - 10%iridium bar which must ne at 0 Centgrade and atmospheric pressure and not allowed to sag, and stashed away in the French national archive.
Not content with that it was finally defined to be equal to 1,650,763.73 wavelengths in vacuum of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the 2p10 and 5d5 quantum levels of the krypton-86 atom.
Have these people got nothing better to do? I think the pacing would be easier
2007-06-16 23:25:19 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's a little less than 10% greater than 3 feet (or 1 yard).
Traditionally, we used to measure a yard approximately as the distance from the tip of your nose to the end of your fingers on your arm when stretched out to the side.
I'd guess this could be about 1 metre these days with the increasing height of people over the recent generations.
2007-06-13 04:00:31 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
About 3 feet
2007-06-13 00:42:41 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
1m = 1meter...
100cm=1m
1000mm=1m
3 1/3foot = 1m
2007-06-13 00:37:13 · answer #4 · answered by Sabre 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
3 feet 3 inches
2007-06-13 00:36:49 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
It's a quarter of a meridian divided by 1 million.
2007-06-13 00:50:18 · answer #6 · answered by vinetodelveccio 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
One metre or one mile or one minute? A metre is about 39 inches or just over a yard. A mile is 1760 yards, a minute is 60 seconds.
2007-06-13 00:38:41 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
6 minutes
2016-03-13 22:10:51 · answer #8 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I meter is a little longer than 3 feet.
2007-06-13 00:36:00 · answer #9 · answered by Steve C 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
1 meter equals -
39.37 inches
3.28 feet
1.09 yards
6.21 10-4 miles
5.4 10-3 nautical miles
5.4 10-3 cables
1 mile equals -
5.4 10-3 inches
5283 feet
1761 yards
0.87 nautical miles
8.7 cables
2007-06-13 00:48:51 · answer #10 · answered by ? 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋