Website Administrator Wesley Joyce
http://www.faculty.uvi.edu
Univesity of The Virgin Islands
Town of St. Croix
Possession of The Virgin Islands
Administrator Joyce,
Please correct your website, and show:
6080 ft. = 1 nautical mile
On your website page "Common Measures of Long Distance" with the label "Slide 26 of 41", the nautical mile is shown as 6077 ft. That's wrong.
6087.0800 ft. = 1 geographical mile
6087.0000 ft. = 1 telegraph mile
6080.2000 ft. = 1 marine mile (U.S. Navy & U.S. Merchant Marine)
6080.0403 ft. = 1 glider mile (Federation Aeronautique Internationale)
6080.0000 ft. = 1 nautical mile
6076.1033 ft. = 1 N.E.R.E. internationale mile
The nautical mile is part of the system of the sextant, the degree, the minute, the second, the foot, and the inch. You cannot alter the nautical mile of 6080 ft. without altering the length of the foot and the inch.
8000 years ago, the Babylonians laid down the nautical mile as 6080 ft. Simply put, you cannot change the nautical mile of 6080 ft., without changing all the world's weights & measures. It cannot be done.
If you mean the geographical mile, or telegraph mile, or marine mile, or glider mile, or NERE international mile, then please say so.
Moving onto a different subject, I notice that you also mention the statute mile. It might be a nice touch if you mentioned what a "mile" means, and why the statute mile is 5280 ft.
mile = thousand = 1000 milemen/militamen marching = 2000 roman paces
2000 roman paces = 1 roman/military/militia mile = 5000 ft.
Neither 5000 ft. nor 6080 ft. can be triangulated. There are a number of lengths that can be triangulated, but the most convenient ones between 5000 ft. & 6080 ft. are:
66 ft. x 5280 superficial mile (statute mile)
72 ft. x 5760 superficial mile
In 1592 the England Parliament passed a statute applying to Middlesex County only, in England, abolishing the linear roman mile of 5000 ft., and stating that the superficial mile of 66 ft. x 5280 ft. would be used as both the only superficial mile, and the only linear mile.
1 superficial statute mile = 66 ft. x 5280 ft.
1 linear statute mile = 5280 ft.
1 statute chain = 66 ft.
5280 ft. was selected because it's closer to the abolished 5000 ft., than 5760 ft.
The idea of the statute mile replacing both the linear roman mile & various superficaial miles, proved so popular that it was rapidly adopted everywhere, although there was no legal requirement to do so.
Good luck with the website. If you you need more info, see site:
"Neither 5000 ft. nor 6080 ft. can be triangulated. There are a number of lengths that can be triangulated, but the most convenient ones between 5000 ft. & 6080 ft. are:
66 ft. x 5280 superficial mile (statute mile)
72 ft. x 5760 superficial mile"
Xcole,
may I point out that 1 telegraph millilitre simply cannot be equal to 6087 feet and that 1 marine millilitre cannot possibly equal 6080.2 feet !
As far as I know, millilitres are only used to measure fluids and feet only to measure distances.
XCole never answers any querries, so let me tell you abourt Napoleon.
In 1869 Napoleon III (Emp[eror of France 1852-1871) issued invitations to variouscountries to participate in a convetnion to discuss weights and measures. Before the meeting could be convened, France and Prussia were at War. France lost and Naopleon fled, only to die in England in 1873. He is buried in Farnborough within earshot of the bi-annual airshow.
In spite of Napoleon fleeing, the meeting did go ahead and in 1875 20 countries were invited to sign the Convention of the Metre, which made the metric system truely international. Seventeen of the countries that were present did sign. The UK was one that put off signing the convention until 1884. It is significant that at the same time that the UK signed, it was discovered that the standard British yard was shrinking. The following quote is taken from the National Physical Laboratory website:
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The alloy from which the [reference metre] bar was made proved to be exceptionally stable. The same cannot be said of the Imperial Standard Yard of 1885, which was made of base metal and shrank at the rate of one part per million in about 20 years.
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