We Travel by Road, Water, Or Air. On roads, the odometer shows meters, and the speedometer displays kilometers per hour (km/h). But in the measuring distance air Water isn’s as straighteningforward. This is where nautical miles, a unit of length specially designed for navigation in air, sea, and space, comes in. “The nautical mile is basically on Geography, History, and Practicality. It equals 1.8522 km (1.851853 km by International Standard) and was defined in 1929 by the international hydrographic Organization (II). Both Units of Earth’s Size (1/10,000 of the Earth’s Meridian) Land Measurements Better and Links to Latitude and Longitude. Units (Si), ”Explained Dr Harshada Babrekar, Ph.D. Physics, Consultant for Academic Development, Maharastra Knowledge Corporation Limited (MKCL).
Prof. Jayant Pande, Faculty of Physics, Flame University, Said Historically, Sailors used nautical miles for centuries to navigate over Large Distances in the sea. “Particularly when global navigation started to be carried out widely by European explorers in the 16th century, it was a matter of Great convenience For them to know that the distance traveled by ship over a sea along a longitudinal meridian head a direct relationship to the degrees of latitude.
Since the latitudes are equally spaced along the Earth’s surface, Such that is 180 degrees of latitude in total from the north pole to the south pole, the calculation meant meant meant meant that nautical mile Equalled 1/(180). DISTANCE along a meridian from the north to the south pole. “Again, this assumes the earth to be a sphere, which is a close approximation to its actual shape of an oblet spheroid. Handy Unit for Navigation, Both for Sailors and Pilots, and Helps them to pinpoint the latitude of a point easy and precisiely, “Said Prof. Pande.
Take, for instance, dr harshada explained that if a plane is passing from point a with latitude 35 ° n, longitude 118 ° w, and point B: Latitude 38 ° N, LongITUDED 120 ° W (TAKING INTO TAKING INTO. Longitude Difference Just for Simplicity):
Latitude Difference: 38 ° – 35 ° = 3 °
Convert to Minutes: 3 ° * 60 minutes/degree = 180 minutes
Nautical Miles: 180 Minutes * 1 Nautical Mile/Minute = 180 Nautical Miles (Approximately)
Kilometers: 1 Nautical Mile = 1.852 Kilometers = 180 * 1.852 = 333 km
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and International Maritime Organization (IMO) Mandate the use of nautical mails as a global standard for ships and aircraft to reddunce. “Each Nautical Mile Equals One Minute of Latitude, Allowing pilots To map routs precisely and navigate with easy. This Standardisation Helps Mainton Course Using Maps, Enterres Safer Flights, and Supports Accurate GPS-Based Navigation, “Said Dr Harshada.
Experts Explain the Math (Photo: Freepik)
Prof. Pande said that a nautical mile is more suited to navigation Over a body of water, whose surface can be constant changing, than the ground-based units such as kilometers and miles. “With that said, due to reasons of standardization, in modern times, an international nautical mile has been globally defined to have a length of exactly 1852 meters, which words that one can, if need, converted the nity. Mile to an si unit such as a kilometer, “Said Prof. Pande.
Using nautical miles also streamlines flight planning And promotes international coordination in aviation. “If Global Adoption of the Metric System Grows Like The Gradual Shift States, Kilometers may become common in everyday use. Harshada.
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Disclaimer: This article is basically on information from the public domain and/or the experts we spoke to.