Yards



=

Metres

Enter the value to convert into the box and modify the accuracy of the conversion by selecting number of significant figures or decimal places by clicking on the boxes provided.

Conversion Formulae

The conversion formula for metres (m) to yards (yd) conversions is as follows:

  • 1 metre = 1.09361330 yards

The conversion formula for yards (yd) to centimetres (m) conversions is as follows:

  • 1 yard = 0.9144 metres
Metres

The metre is the base SI unit of length and is one of the oldest metric units having been introduced in France in 1793. It was one of the base units of the mks system of measurements that formed the basis for the SI system in 1960.

Unit System

SI Metric

Definition

The metre is defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299,792,458 of a second.

Base Unit

Metre

The metre is the SI base unit of length.

Abbreviation

Formal: m

The abbreviation is used with standard SI prefixes for other metric units of length e.g. cm for centimetres.

Information

The metre is the SI metric base unit of length and is one of the oldest metric units having been first introduced in France in 1799. The metre was defined at this time as one ten-millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the Equator, measured along the meridian passing through Paris. This definition having been chosen over the length of a seconds pendulum (a pendulum with a half-period of one second) as the seconds pendulum varied dependent on geographic location.

The French government sponsored a survey of the meridian by Pierre M&ecaute;chain and Jean-Baptiste Delambre that determined the length of the metre and a platinum metre bar was selected for use as the mètre des Archives.

In 1867 it was decided to create a new metre standard, the International Prototype Metre, that was again a metal bar, this time made of platinum iridium alloy. The metre was defined as the distance between two lines on the bar (to avoid errors due to wear of the ends of the bar). This standard was internationally adopted at the Metre Convention in 1875 with the signing of a treaty on the 20th of July. In addition to the adoption of the standard the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) was created to conserve the International Prototype Metre.

As technology improved new more accurate measures of length were developed, the most commonly used being interferometry. In 1960 a definition of the metre was adopted as Resolution 6 of 11th CGPM defining the metre as follows: "The metre is the length equal to 1,650,763.73 wavelengths in vacuum of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the levels 2p10 and 5d5 of the krypton 86 atom."

When developments in electronics allowed the measurement of the frequency of light near the visible spectrum it became possible to define the metre in terms of the speed of light and Resolution 1 of the 17th CGPM then defined the metre as: "The metre is the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second." This definition is still in use.

More Information

Wikipedia: Metre

Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM)

Global Adoption

The metre is in worldwide use in science and is in general use everywhere except the United States, Liberia and dependent territories. In other English speaking countries the use of feet and inches for a persons height is still in common use, despite legal adoption of the metre and yards are still used when referring to football and cricket pitch measurements.

Conversion Formulae

  • 1 metre = 1,000,000 micrometres
  • 1 metre = 1,000 millimetres
  • 1 metre = 100 centimetres
  • 1 metre = 10 decimetres
  • 1 metre = 0.1 decametres
  • 1 metre = 0.01 hectometres
  • 1 metre = 0.001 kilometres
  • 1 metre = 0.000001 megametres

 

  • 1 micrometre = 0.000001 metres
  • 1 millimetre = 0.001 metres
  • 1 centimetre = 0.01 metres
  • 1 decimetre = 0.1 metres
  • 1 decametre = 10 metres
  • 1 hectometre = 100 metres
  • 1 kilometre = 1,000 metres
  • 1 megametre = 1,000,000 metres
Yards

The yard comes England and dates from around 1000AD, it was first formally defined in law by the Composition of Yards and Perches also known as The Statute of Ells and Perches. Nowadays the yard is defined in terms of the metre.

Unit System

Imperial & US Customary

Definition

The yard is defined as 0.9144 metres.

Base Unit

Metre

Abbreviation

Formal: yd

The abbreviation yds is sometimes seen for greater than one yard.

Information

The first recorded definition of the yard came in 'The Composition of Yards and Perches' an English statute dating from around 1300 - it is in the Statutes of Uncertain Date thought to have been enacted between 1250 and 1305. One medieval historian wrote that the length of Henry I's arm became a standard measure to replace the false measures used by traders. In this case the measure was called an Ell, rather than a yard.

The history of the yard has been long associated with the cloth trade as cloth was sold by the yard and handful prior to 1439 and by the yard and inch aftewards due to a law of Henry VI. And one of the earliest known standard yard rods is that of the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors. It is dated 1445 by hallmark and is a hexagonal iron rod encased in a silver rod - the silver bearing the hallmark, which leaves it open to debate as to whether the iron rod is even older.

In 1758 parliament requested the production of a standard yard, which was produced in 1760 from a standard of the Royal Society.

The 1760 standard yard was incorporated into law in the United Kingdom in the Weights and Measures Act 1824. However between the production of the standard yard in 1760 and 1824 the United States had gained its independence and had its own standard US Customary units. US Customary units were based on a standard yard designed to be identical to that of the UK. In 1866 a law was passed allowing the use of the metric system in the United States defining a conversion factor for yards to metres of 3937/3600. In 1893 the Mendenhall Order redefined the yard in terms of the metre using the conversion factor from the 1866 law.

Just ten years after the Weights and Measures Act, in 1834, the standard yard of 1760 was destroyed in a fire at the Palace of Westminster requiring a replacement. Between 1845 and 1855 forty new standard yards were made with one being selected to be the new Imperial standard. The United States was sent Bronze Yard No.11, one of those forty standard yards.

In 1959 Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa agreed upon a new definition of the yard in terms of the meter (exactly 0.9144 metres). In the United Kingdom this definition was enacted in law in the Weights and Measures Act of 1963. No further changes to definition of the yard have taken place since then and it is unlikely that any will happen in the future.

More Information

Wikipedia: Yard

Wikipedia: Liber Horn (1311) author Andrew Horn

UK National Archives: Liber Horn

Wikipedia: Composition of Yards and Perches

Wikia: US Customary Yard

Wikipedia: UK Weights and Measures Acts

Wikipedia: Mendenhall Order

Global Adoption

Yards are a standard unit of length in the United States and Liberia and are still used informally in the United Kingdom and other British Commonwealth countries that formerly used Imperial units as standard.

Conversion Formulae

  • 1 yard = 36 inches
  • 1 yard = 9 hands
  • 1 yard = 3 feet
  • 1 yard = 0.045454545 chains
  • 1 yard = 0.004545455 furlongs
  • 1 yard = 0.000568182 miles

Conversions accurate to 9 decimal places.

  • 1 inch = 0.027777778 yards
  • 1 hand = 0.111111111 yards
  • 1 foot = 0.333333333 yards
  • 1 chain = 22 yards
  • 1 furlong = 220 yards
  • 1 mile = 1,760 yards

Conversions accurate to 9 decimal places.

Common Conversions m to yd
myd
11.09
22.19
33.28
44.37
55.47
66.56
77.66
88.75
99.84
1010.94
myd
1010.94
2021.87
3032.81
4043.74
5054.68
6065.62
7076.55
8087.49
9098.43
100109.36
myd
100109.36
200218.72
300328.08
400437.45
500546.81
600656.17
700765.53
800874.89
900984.25
1,0001,093.61
Common Conversions yd to m
ydm
10.91
21.83
32.74
43.66
54.57
65.49
76.40
87.32
98.23
109.14
1110.06
1210.97
ydm
1311.89
1412.80
1513.72
1614.63
1715.54
1816.46
1917.37
2018.29
2119.20
2220.12
2321.03
2421.95
ydm
220201.17
440402.34
660603.50
880804.67
1,1001,005.84
1,3201,207.01
1,5401,408.18
1,7601,609.34
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