Why is speed at sea measured in knots? Detailed answer

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Why is speed at sea measured in knots? Detailed answer

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Why is speed at sea measured in knots?

When the first ships began to sail on the sea, navigators could not determine their position on the high seas with great accuracy. Then they learned to determine the longitude and latitude of the place where the ship is located. Latitude is the distance north and south of the equator.

Longitude is the distance west or east of zero degrees. The zero degree of longitude is the longitude at which the observatory in Greenwich, England is located. To determine longitude, ancient sailors calculated how far they sailed in a given amount of time.

To do this, they used a special device - "lag". It was an ordinary log to which a rope was tied. The lag was thrown overboard from the stern of the ship, and they waited for the rope to stretch. At regular intervals, knots were tied along the entire length of the rope. The sailor, lowering the rope, counted how many knots passed through his hands in a certain time. This is how the speed of the ship was calculated. Sailors began to use the word "knot" to refer to the speed of a ship.

Today, a knot is equal to one nautical mile per hour, and a nautical mile is 1852 meters - a little more than a statute mile. Suppose a ship is sailing at a speed of 15 knots. This means that it is sailing at a speed of 15 nautical miles per hour (or 28 kilometers) per hour. Logs are still used to determine the speed of a sailing ship. But today's logs are special metal turntables with flat blades. The ship sails on the waves, the spinner spins and sets in motion a mechanism that shows the actual speed of the ship.

Author: Likum A.

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

Which country produced an armored car that could move both on tracks and on rails?

Planning expansion into China and Siberia, the Japanese developed a special Type 1930 So-Ki armored car in the 2595s. Its distinctive advantage was the ability to move both on caterpillar tracks and on railroads. Transferring the car from tracks to wheels took three minutes, back - just a minute. Armament consisted of one machine gun in a conical turret. "So-Ki", being able to reach speeds on rails up to 72 km / h, was widely used in China for transportation and patrolling.

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