Meters explained
The meter is the fundamental unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), also known as the metric system. It is used to measure distances, lengths, and heights in various fields, including science, engineering, and everyday applications.
All length units in the metric system
Unit | Symbol | Description |
---|---|---|
Exameter | Em | 1018 meters |
Petameter | Pm | 1015 meters |
Terameter | Tm | 1012 meters |
Gigameter | Gm | 109 meters |
Megameter | Mm | 106 meters |
Kilometer | km | 1,000 meters |
Hectometer | hm | 100 meters |
Dekameter | dam | 10 meters |
Meter | m | Base unit |
Decimeter | dm | 0.1 meters |
Centimeter | cm | 0.01 meters |
Millimeter | mm | 0.001 meters |
Micrometer | μm | 10-6 meters |
Nanometer | nm | 10-9 meters |
Picometer | pm | 10-12 meters |
Femtometer | fm | 10-15 meters |
Attometer | am | 10-18 meters |
This table shows all common length units derived from the meter. These units are used for different scales of measurement, from large distances like kilometers to small measurements like millimeters.
Origin
The meter was originally defined in 1793 as one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole along a meridian passing through Paris. In 1960, it was redefined as 1,650,763.73 wavelengths of the orange-red line of krypton-86. Since 1983, the meter has been defined as the distance traveled by light in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second, providing a precise and consistent standard for measurement.
Interesting Facts
The meter is widely used in many areas, including construction, transportation, and scientific research. Its universality and precision make it an essential unit for international communication and collaboration. Additionally, the meter's definition based on the speed of light ensures that it remains a stable and reliable unit for measuring lengths across different environments and conditions.
Convert meters to other length units
In this section, you find an overview of all conversions from meters to other length units available on this website.
- Meters to kilometers
- Meters to hectometers
- Meters to dekameters
- Meters to decimeters
- Meters to centimeters
- Meters to millimeters
- Meters to miles
- Meters to yards
- Meters to feet
- Meters to inches
- Meters to light years
- Meters to quettameters
- Meters to ronnameters
- Meters to yottameters
- Meters to zettameters
- Meters to exameters
- Meters to petameters
- Meters to terameters
- Meters to gigameters
- Meters to megameters
- Meters to micrometers
- Meters to nanometers
- Meters to picometers
- Meters to femtometers
- Meters to attometers
- Meters to zeptometers
- Meters to yoctometers
- Meters to rontometers
- Meters to quectometers
- Meters to microns
- Meters to megaparsecs
- Meters to kiloparsecs
- Meters to parsecs
- Meters to astronomical units
- Meters to leagues
- Meters to leagues (uk)
- Meters to leagues (ancient celtic)
- Meters to nautical leagues (uk)
- Meters to nautical leagues (international)
- Meters to nautical miles (uk)
- Meters to nautical miles (international)
- Meters to miles (statute)
- Meters to miles (us survey)
- Meters to miles (roman)
- Meters to kiloyards
- Meters to furlongs
- Meters to furlongs (us survey)
- Meters to chains
- Meters to chains (us survey)
- Meters to ropes
- Meters to rods
- Meters to rods (us survey)
- Meters to perches
- Meters to poles
- Meters to fathoms
- Meters to fathoms (us survey)
- Meters to ells
- Meters to feet (us survey)
- Meters to links
- Meters to links (us survey)
- Meters to cubits (uk)
- Meters to hands
- Meters to spans (cloth)
- Meters to fingers (cloth)
- Meters to nails (cloth)
- Meters to inches (us survey)
- Meters to barleycorns
- Meters to mils
- Meters to microinches
- Meters to angstroms
- Meters to x units
- Meters to fermi
- Meters to arpents
- Meters to picas
- Meters to points
- Meters to twips
- Meters to alns
- Meters to famns
- Meters to calibers
- Meters to centiinches
- Meters to japanese kens
- Meters to russian archins
- Meters to roman actus
- Meters to spanish vara
- Meters to greek cubits
- Meters to long reeds
- Meters to reeds
- Meters to long cubits
- Meters to handbreadths
- Meters to fingerbreadths
- Meters to planck length
- Meters to classical electron radius
- Meters to bohr radius
- Meters to earth's equatorial radius
- Meters to earth's polar radius
- Meters to earth's distance from sun
- Meters to sun's radius