this post was submitted on 19 May 2025
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[–] Droggelbecher@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

The distance that light travels in about a three hundred millionth of a second. Wait, that's just the actual definition.

[–] lengau@midwest.social 2 points 2 days ago

About as wide as my oversized fridge.

Can't wait to get rid of that shit and have something that actually fits in my kitchen.

[–] Nemo@slrpnk.net 40 points 3 days ago (4 children)
[–] Peter_Arbeitslos@feddit.org 11 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Wednesday dude or normal one?

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[–] qantravon@startrek.website 42 points 3 days ago (1 children)

"The length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of ⁠1/299792458⁠ of a second, where the second is defined by a hyperfine transition frequency of caesium."

This is the actual definition, but it's also pretty weird.

[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 12 points 3 days ago (3 children)

And here I thought it was that sick of metal in the wall in France when it is 21 degrees C

[–] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 11 points 3 days ago (1 children)

They redefined it a few years ago to base all units on some objectively measurable natural constant. Because that stick of metal might still decay or warp or something and you don't always want to travel to France when you want to know the length of a meter. Much easier to measure the atoms and light you have on hand.

[–] Natanael@infosec.pub 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Updating the kilogram standard took them forever because you need really reliable force measurement instruments and very precise calibration

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[–] Peter_Arbeitslos@feddit.org 9 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)
[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Hey, just because I am Australian doesn't mean I am a crime of nature. That is just our animals.

[–] MojoMcJojo@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

Australia, where even the animals are criminals.

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[–] radix@lemmy.world 31 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Depends on the meter, dude. There are thermo-meters, speedo-meters, baro-meter...

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[–] FanciestPants@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago

The distance light travels when it goes one meter.

[–] MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown@fedia.io 26 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Meter‽ We are more than well acquainted.

[–] Venus_Ziegenfalle@feddit.org 6 points 2 days ago

3 1/3 Subway sandwiches

[–] chaosCruiser 22 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Take a really long rope and put one end on either pole of the Earth, and the other end on the equator. Use the shortest path, and make sure the rope is tight. No squiggles allowed! Chop that rope into exactly 10 000 000 equal parts. One of them is as long as a meter. Now you just need to find the right one.

Edit: more zeros.

[–] pmk@lemmy.sdf.org 6 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Distance between pole and equator is... 10 km?

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[–] y0kai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 3 days ago

About twice as long as half of its length

[–] Tinks@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

About the length of a golden retriever

[–] erev@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

take a meter stick, now cut it in half. glue it back together. a meter is probably a little bit longer than this since you lost some material cutting.

[–] konalt@lemmy.world 14 points 3 days ago

A bit more than 90 centimetres, a bit less than 110. Somewhere in that ballpark.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

About this long holds palms one meter apart.

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org 12 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (11 children)

Okay, so, right, okay. Um. In German schools (and probably some other countries...?), many many years ago (possibly still today? or maybe it's all digital now? what am I saying, this is German schools), the blackboard in every classroom was a large, green, rectangular middle part and two square "wings", one on each side (as wings are wont to be...). They can swing in and out, providing extra room for writing on the outer side of the wings. Also for extracurricular shenanigans such as writing "[name] + [name] = SEX" in the middle, swinging the wings closed to hide the writing and then breaking out into hysterics when the teacher opens the blackboard to reveal your incredibly highbrow joke.

This type of blackboard is quintessential to my recollections about and concept of school.

Why am I going into such unnecessary detail about this? I have ADHD and possibly autism, I need you to understand what I'm saying and I can't find any sources of this existing in the English speaking world and I can't find an English word for those "wings" either. I can barely find a German one ("Tafelflügel"? I don't think it's ever come up before in my life).

So here's a picture:

Picture of the aforementioned German type blackboard.

The width/height of the "wings" and the height of the middle part, that's a metre. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

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[–] quediuspayu@lemmy.world 10 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

About ten minutes, wait, what was the question?

[–] Bustedknuckles@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] henfredemars@infosec.pub 10 points 3 days ago

Just about half as twice as much.

[–] garbagebagel@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago

About 4 stacked house cats, or a bit longer than a 3-year-old.

[–] RandomStickman@fedia.io 9 points 3 days ago (2 children)

The overall length of an M16A4

[–] Peter_Arbeitslos@feddit.org 9 points 3 days ago (4 children)

I didn't even know what a M16A4 is. Some US unit, right?

[–] mlfh@lemmy.sdf.org 10 points 3 days ago

Yes, with the official M16A4 unit being defined as 1/100th the length between the goal lines of an American Football field.

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[–] letsgo@lemm.ee 2 points 2 days ago

My meter is about six inches by three (from memory). It measures voltage (both AC and DC) and current.

[–] RBWells@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Depends on how much money you put in.

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[–] S_H_K@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Take one liter of water at "room temperature" an aprox of 20 Celcuis degrees at one atmosfere pressure. Take a straight transparent tube of one centimeter inner thickness. Put the water in without spilling.

Measue...

A meter...

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[–] GusTheBard@midwest.social 2 points 2 days ago

The distance between the first line in a hopscotch game and where I would put the top line of the [4, 5] block.

[–] SnarkoPolo@lemm.ee 3 points 3 days ago

One-half a Darth Vader.

Same length as a string.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 8 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

About the size of a giant sea turtle.

[–] Peter_Arbeitslos@feddit.org 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)
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[–] rustyfish@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Try to piss as far as you can. Now you know how long a meter is.

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[–] djmikeale@lemm.ee 2 points 2 days ago

The square root of a square meter

[–] original_reader@lemm.ee 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Only weird answers?

The truth itself is weird: The meter is defined as the distance that light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 seconds.

[–] abbotsbury@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago (7 children)
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[–] Nikls94@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

Hold one arm on your body and stretch the other one to your side. Now make your wrists/hands point forward. This is a meter.

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