One knot equals the speed of one nautical mile per hour. When calculating speed using nautical miles, often knots are used as units. This allowed for simplified calculations of latitude because every 60 nautical miles were one degree of latitude. Historically it was defined as one minute of arc along the meridian or 1/(60×180) of a meridian. The clearance below the bridge is 220 ft or 67.1 m at tide Distances in Navigation Nanometer (1×10⁻⁹ of a meter), picometer (1×10⁻¹² of a meter), femtometer (1×10⁻¹⁵ of a meter), and attometer (1×10⁻¹⁸ of a meter) are also used. It is also known as micron and is represented by the sign µ. It is commonly used in biology to measure microorganisms, as well as for measuring infrared radiation wavelengths. Sciences like Biology and Physics work with very small distances, therefore additional units are used. Units such as inch, foot, and mile are used where the metric system is not accepted, such as in the USA and the UK. Derivatives of the meter, such as kilometers and centimeters, are also used in the metric system. The basic unit for length and distance in the International System of Units (SI) is a meter. For three-dimensional objects, it is usually measured horizontally.ĭistance, on the other hand, refers to the measure of how far the objects are from each other. Length describes the longest dimension of an object. Its total length is about 1.7 mi or 2.7 km. The Golden Gate Bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait that provides an opening between the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean.

Meeter to yards