The yard is a unit of length used primarily in North American sports. One yard equals 3 feet, 36 inches and 0.9144 meters.
Similar to the inch, the yard was defined in 7th century England and was loosely based on the length of a rod, branch or “gerd” (which is the phonetic origin of the word “yard”). Over the centuries, the concept of a yard having three times the length of a foot became a common definition. In 1814 a standard yard was cast into bronze in London. Only in 1959 did 6 countries, among them the USA, Canada and the UK, agree on the standard length of 0.9144 meters.
In the United Kingdom the yard remains an official unit for medium road distances, alongside the mile. The yard is most prominently used in American Football. An American football field consists of twelve 10-yard sections. The yard is also still in use for textile trade and measuring fabrics in both the USA and the UK.
The length of the standard bronze yard was defined at exactly 62° Fahrenheit. Unfortunately, in 1834 the standard yard was destroyed by a fire in the British parliament.
| Yards | |
|---|---|
| Marathon | 46,145.0 |
| Race track "Mille Miglia" | 1,759,951.9 |
| Earth radius | 6,975,246.1 |
| Earth circumference | 43,826,762.9 |
| Distance earth ↔ moon | 420,384,951.9 |
| Distance earth ↔ sun | 163,597,747,156.6 |