How did units of measurement come about? Detailed answer

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How did units of measurement come about? Detailed answer

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How did units of measurement come about?

Long before standard units of measure were established, man measured one thing by comparing it with another. It was most convenient to measure with your own body. For example, if a person wanted to measure the distance from his house to a neighboring one, he did it in steps.

The unit of measure was the stride length. To measure a room, a person put one foot in front of the other in turn. The distance was measured by the length of the foot (in English "foot"). Arms, hands and fingers were used to measure things like fabrics or clothes.

The units of measurement were the distance from the tip of the nose to the tip of the fingers of the outstretched hand, the distance from the tips of the fingers to the elbow, the distance from the thumb to the little finger in the splayed state, the width of the palm, the width of the thumb. The problem was that these sizes are different for everyone. The legs, arms, fingers of one person are shorter or longer than those of another. Therefore, it became necessary to establish standard units of measurement. And in the Middle Ages, the community of merchants agreed on units of measurement.

Later, such standards began to be approved by governments. There is currently an international agreement on standard units of measurement. Governments of different states agreed to use the same measures. Many governments have special bodies responsible for standards. In 1791, the metric system of measurement was invented in France, which is now in use in many countries. The United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom are also gradually adopting the metric system.

Author: Likum A.

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

Which physicist failed to win the Nobel Prize despite being nominated 84 times?

The German physicist Arnold Sommerfeld, noted for his achievements in quantum theory, electron theory, electrodynamics and many other scientific fields, was nominated for the Nobel Prize 1917 times from 1951 to 84, but never received it. Sommerfeld to this day holds the record in this indicator. But the Nobel laureates were seven of his students: Werner Heisenberg, Wolfgang Pauli, Peter Debye, Hans Albrecht Bethe, Linus Pauling, Isidor Isaac Rabi and Max von Laue.

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