What is a linear meter?

A linear meter is a somewhat redundant term for measuring length in the International System of Units (SI). A linear meter is different from a square meter, which is a unit of area, or a cubic meter, which is a unit of volume. Typically, the word "linear" is omitted because the meter is meant to be a unit of length and not an area or volume. However, in some cases this is written as a “linear meter” to avoid confusion when multiple units are used in a particular job or task what type of engineer should i be.

The metric system, which is the basis of the modern SI system, gets its name from the counter, which is one of the seven basic units of the SI system. A meter is defined as the distance that light travels in a vacuum during a span of 1 / 299.792.458 of a second. This definition has been around since its first official designation by the French Academy of Sciences in 1791, when it was described as one tenth of a millionth the distance from the North Pole to the equator.

This initial meter definition was later found to have a margin of error of 0.2 mm (0.008 in) due to the inability to account for the distortion of the Earth's spherical shape due to centrifugal forces associated with rotation, which cause the Earth to be slightly convex at the equator and slightly flattened. at the poles. Later, a new prototype for a flow meter, using the previous definition as a base, was made from an alloy of platinum and iridium and held under controlled conditions.

In 1960, the definition was changed again to further improve the accuracy of the linear meter. The wavelength of a particular type of radiation from the decaying isotopes of the element krypton was used to determine the meter. The current definition, based on the transit time of light in a vacuum, was adopted in 1983. All of these definitions have changed little in the day-to-day use of a linear meter by most ordinary citizens. These definitions have always been useful to scientists and those who require the utmost accuracy of measurements.

The meter is one of the most recognizable units of measurement today, even for countries like the United States that are slowly adopting the metric system. That's the equivalent of just over 3.28 feet, or 1.09 yards. A thousand meters is a kilometer, a standard device used for long distances in many parts of the world.

In some cases, the term linear meter is used when discussing the amount of material, such as lumber. In these cases, it is sometimes confused with square or cubic meters, units of area and volume. To avoid confusion, a linear meter should always be viewed simply as a length measurement. For example, when discussing lumber, a linear meter means a piece that is one meter long, regardless of other board dimensions.