What is a meter? Give two examples of objects that are a meter in length.
Answers
Until fairly recently there was only one thing that was exactly one meter long. It was the prototype meter, a rod of platinum that was by definition exactly one meter. The unit itself was originally based on the length of a pendulum that swings with a given frequency, so it wasn't chosen based on some every day object of the given length. Now that the definition of the unit has changed, there really isn't anything exactly 1 m long anymore.
Things that are approximatelly one meter are, for example:
- a large step (average step is about 80 cm)
- the blade of a longsword
- the circumference of a car wheel (without a tire)
- the height of a kitchen counter
- the shoulder height of a black bear
- 4 pieces of paper, A4 format, two of them lengthwise and two of them crosswise
- I am clearly grasping for straws here, it's really difficult to come up with examples