WEBVTT - How Nautical Miles Work

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff past him Marshall Brain. On the news,

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<v Speaker 1>you'll often hear people, especially boat and airplane people, talking

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<v Speaker 1>about nautical miles. Have you ever wondered why there's more

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<v Speaker 1>than one kind of mile? A normal mile is five thousand,

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<v Speaker 1>two d eight feet, and that's a totally random unit

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<v Speaker 1>of measurement. A nautical mile is instead based on the

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<v Speaker 1>size of the Earth. If you take the circle of

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<v Speaker 1>the Earth at the equator, you can divide that circle

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<v Speaker 1>into three hundred sixty degrees. You could then divide each

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<v Speaker 1>degree into sixty minutes. A nautical mile is a minute

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<v Speaker 1>of the Earth's arc. If you travel one degree around

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<v Speaker 1>the Earth, you've traveled sixty nautical miles. Three hundred sixty

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<v Speaker 1>times sixty is one thousand, six hundred, so it's twenty

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<v Speaker 1>one thousand, six hundred nautical miles around the planet. Coincidentally,

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<v Speaker 1>a kilometer is also based on the planet Earth. Take

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<v Speaker 1>the distance from the north pole to the equator, divide

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<v Speaker 1>that by ten thousand, and you have a kilometer. For

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<v Speaker 1>more on this and thousands of other topics, go to

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<v Speaker 1>how stuff works dot com. M