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A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems equal to 6 feet (1.8288 m), used especially for measuring the depth of water. [1] The fathom is neither an international standard (SI) unit, nor an internationally accepted non-SI unit. Historically it was the maritime measure of depth in the English-speaking world but ...
In both customary and imperial units, one foot comprises 12 inches, and one yard comprises three feet. Since an international agreement in 1959, the foot is defined as equal to exactly 0.3048 meters. Historically, the "foot" was a part of many local systems of units, including the Greek, Roman, Chinese, French, and English systems. It varied in ...
The basic unit of length in the imperial and U.S. customary systems is the yard, defined as exactly 0.9144 m by international treaty in 1959. [2] [5] Common imperial units and U.S. customary units of length include: [6] thou or mil (1 ⁄ 1000 of an inch) inch (25.4 mm) foot (12 inches, 0.3048 m) yard (3 feet, 0.9144 m)
In 1324 Edward II systematized units of length by defining the inch as 3 barleycorns, the foot as 12 inches, the yard as 3 feet, the perch as 5 1 ⁄ 2 yards, and the acre as an area 4 by 40 perches. [2]
For measuring length, the U.S. customary system uses the inch, foot, yard, and mile, which are the only four customary length measurements in everyday use. From 1893, the foot was legally defined as exactly 1200 ⁄ 3937 m (approximately 0.304 8006 m). [13] Since July 1, 1959, the units of length have been defined on the basis of 1 yd = 0.9144 ...
From fingertips to elbow, 18 inches. Yard: 0.914 m: 3 feet = 36 inches, the practical base unit, defined as the length of the prototype bar held by the Crown or Exchequer. Ell: 1.143 m: From fingertip of outstretched arm to opposite shoulder, 20 nails = 1 + 1 ⁄ 4 yard or 45 inches. Mostly for measuring cloth. Fathom: 1.829 m
An Olympic-size swimming pool holds over 2 acre-feet of water For larger volumes of liquid, one measure commonly used in the media in many countries is the Olympic-size swimming pool. [47] A 50 m × 25 m (164 ft × 82 ft) Olympic swimming pool, built to the FR3 minimum depth of 2 metres (6.6 ft) would hold 2,500 m 3 (660,000 US gal).
The main units of length (inch, foot, yard and international mile) were the same in the US, though the US rarely uses some of the intermediate units today, such as the (surveyor's) chain (22 yards) and the furlong (220 yards). At one time, the definition of the nautical mile was based on the surface area of the Clarke ellipsoid.