Shorter distances are measured in fractions of a horse length also common are measurements of a full or fraction of a head, a neck, or a nose. In rowing races such as the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, the margin of victory and of defeat is expressed in fractions and multiples of boat lengths. The length of a rowing eight is about 62 feet (19 m). A shorter distance is the canvas, which is the length of the covered part of the boat between the bow and the bow oarsman. The Racing Rules of Sailing also makes heavy use of boat lengths.Ī football field is often used as a comparative measurement of length when talking about distances that may be hard to comprehend when stated in terms of standard units.Īn American football field is usually understood to be 100 yards (91 m) long, though it is technically 120 yards (110 m) when including the two 10 yd (9.1 m) long end zones. Īn association football pitch may vary within limits of 90–120 m (98–131 yd) in length and 45–90 m (49–98 yd) in width.
The usual size of a football pitch is 105 m × 68 m (115 yd × 74 yd), the dimensions used for matches in the UEFA Champions League.Ī Canadian football field is 65 yd (59 m) wide and 150 yd (140 m) long, including two 20 yd (18 m) long end zones. In most US cities, a city block is between 1⁄ 16 and 1⁄ 8 mi (100 and 200 m). In Manhattan, the measurement "block" usually refers to a north–south block, which is 1⁄ 20 mi (80 m). Sometimes people living in places (like Manhattan) with a regularly spaced street grid will speak of long blocks and short blocks.
#Unit of measure larger than light year plus
Within a typical large North American city, it is often only possible to travel along east–west and north–south streets, so travel distance between two points is often given in the number of blocks east–west plus the number north–south (known to mathematicians as the Manhattan Metric).
The radius of Earth, generally given as 6,371 kilometers (3,959 miles) is often employed as a unit of measure to intuitively compare objects of planetary size. The circumference of a great circle of the Earth (about 40,000 km or 25,000 mi or 22,000 nmi) is often compared to large distances. For example, one might say that a large number of objects laid end-to-end at the equator "would circle the Earth four and a half times". Despite the fact that the difference (0.17%) between the two is insignificant at the low precision that these quantities are typically given to, it is nevertheless often specified as being at the equator. The definitions of both the nautical mile and the kilometre were originally derived from the Earth's circumference as measured through the poles. The nautical mile was defined as a minute of arc of latitude measured along any meridian. The nearest star, Proxima Centauri, is just over 4 light years away.A circle has 360 degrees, and each degree is 60 minutes, so the nautical mile was defined as 1⁄ 21,600 of the Earth's circumference, or about 1,852.22 metres. One light year is equal to more than 63,000 AUs.
Distances to stars are much larger, and are expressed in terms of light years. Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun, orbits at an average distance of 0.39 AU.ĪUs are generally used for measurements of distances within our Solar System. The average distance from the Sun to distant Pluto is about 40 AU. AUs simply make a measurement easier to understand and give you something to compare it to.įor example, Saturn's orbit around the Sun has an average radius of 9.5 AU, which means that Saturn is about ten times farther from the Sun than Earth is. In this case kilometers are just too small - it would be like measuring the distance from Boston to San Francisco in inches. It is equal to 149,597,871 km (92,955,807 miles).ĪUs are often more convenient to use than kilometers when measuring large distances such as those in space. One AU is the average distance from the Sun's center to the Earth's center. AU, which stands for "astronomical unit", is a unit for measuring distance.
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