Chains to Parsecs
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1 chain (ch) = 6.51941E-16 parsec (pc). Chain (ch) is a unit of Length used in Standard system. Parsec (pc) is a unit of Length used in Metric system.

Chain: A Unit of Length Used for Measuring Land

The chain is a unit of length that is equal to 66 feet or 22 yards or 4 rods or 100 links. It is part of the US customary and imperial measurement systems. It is used for measuring land, especially in surveying and mapping. The symbol for chain is ch. There are 10 chains in a furlong, and 80 chains in one statute mile. An acre is the area of 10 square chains. The unit is named after the chain, a measuring device that was invented by Edmund Gunter, a clergyman and mathematician, in the 17th century. The chain is also sometimes called a Gunter’s chain, a surveyor’s chain or a land chain. In this article, we will explore the definition, history, usage and conversion of the chain as a unit of length.

Definition of the Unit

The chain is a unit of length that is equal to 66 feet or 22 yards or 4 rods or 100 links. It is one of the base units in the US customary and imperial measurement systems, along with the foot, the yard and the mile. The chain is also a derived unit in the International System of Units (SI), which is the most widely used system of measurement in the world. The SI base unit of length is the meter, which is defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299792458 seconds.

The definition of the chain has not changed since its introduction by Edmund Gunter in 1620, who based it on an earlier English unit called an acre’s breadth, which was equal to one-tenth of a furlong or one-eightieth of a mile. However, the definition of the foot, which is used to define the chain, has changed several times over time, as different standards and methods of measurement were adopted by various countries and regions. The current definition of the foot as 0.3048 meter was agreed upon by an international treaty in 1959.

History of the Unit

The origin of the chain as a unit of length can be traced back to 1620, when Edmund Gunter created a measuring device called a chain. The chain was 66 feet long and consisted of 100 metal links connected by three rings each. The links were made of thick wire with a loop at each end. The chain had brass handles at each end for holding and folding. Gunter chose this unit because it was convenient for his work on surveying and mapping land. He also named this unit after himself, as he wrote in his book: "I have taken as unit for these measurements one hundredth part [of a furlong], which I will call an Chain".

Gunter’s unit was soon adopted by other surveyors and mapmakers, who found it useful for measuring distances and areas on flat or gently sloping land. The chain was also used for laying out roads, railways and canals. The chain became part of the US customary and imperial measurement systems, which were based on earlier English units that were brought by British settlers to America. The chain was also used in some other countries influenced by British practice, such as Canada and India.

In 1785, when the United States Congress passed the Land Ordinance Act to survey and divide the public land west of the Appalachian Mountains into rectangular townships and sections, the use of the chain as a unit of measurement was mandated by law. The act also defined the chain as equal to four rods or poles or perches. The surveyors who carried out this work were known as "chain bearers" or "chain carriers", and they marked each mile along their survey lines with wooden posts called "milestones".

In 1959, when the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries agreed to adopt a common definition of the foot as 0.3048 meter, based on the international yard that was defined as 0.9144 meter by an international treaty in 1959, the chain became exactly equal to 20.1168 meters.

Usage of the Unit

The chain is a unit of length that is used for measuring land, especially in surveying and mapping. The chain is also used for measuring distances on roads, railways and canals. The chain is still used in some rural areas and historical contexts in the United States, Canada and some other countries that follow the US customary or imperial measurement systems.

The chain is used for various purposes, such as:

• Measuring length, width and area of land parcels and properties.
• Measuring distances and dimensions on maps and plans.
• Measuring boundaries and borders between states, counties and townships.
• Measuring road widths and lengths.
• Measuring railway track gauges and lengths.
• Measuring canal widths and depths.

How to Convert

The chain can be converted to other units of length by using conversion factors or formulas. Here are some examples of how to convert chains to other units of length in the US customary system, the imperial system and the SI system:

• To convert chains to feet, multiply by 66. For example, 10 ch = 10 × 66 = 660 ft.
• To convert chains to yards, multiply by 22. For example, 10 ch = 10 × 22 = 220 yd.
• To convert chains to miles, divide by 80. For example, 10 ch = 10 / 80 = 0.125 mi.
• To convert chains to centimeters, multiply by 2011.68. For example, one ch = one × 2011.68 = 2011.68 cm.
• To convert chains to meters, multiply by 20.1168. For example, one ch = one × 20.1168 = 20.1168 m.
• To convert chains to kilometers, divide by 49.7097. For example, 10 ch = 10 / 49.7097 = 0.2012 km.

Equivalents in Other Units and Scales

The chain can be expressed in terms of other units of length by using equivalent values or ratios. Here are some examples of how to express chains in other units of length:

• One chain is equal to four rods or poles or perches.
• One chain is equal to one-tenth of a furlong or one-eightieth of a mile.
• One chain is equal to one-hundredth of a league or one-fortieth of a league (US).
• One chain is equal to one-hundred-millionth of an astronomical unit or one-forty-billionth of a light-year.
• One chain is equal to one-thousandth of a nautical mile or one-three-thousand-six-hundredth of a degree of latitude or longitude.

Parsec: A Unit of Length

A parsec is a unit of length that is often used in astronomy to measure the large distances to astronomical objects outside the Solar System. It is approximately equal to 3.26 light-years or 206,265 astronomical units (au), which are the average distances from the Earth to the Sun. One parsec is about 30.9 trillion kilometres or 19.2 trillion miles.

Definition of the parsec

The word parsec is a combination of “parallax” and “arcsecond”, which are terms related to the measurement of angles. Parallax is the apparent shift in position of an object when viewed from different perspectives. Arcsecond is a unit of angle that is equal to one sixtieth of an arcminute, or one three thousand six hundredth of a degree.

A parsec is defined as the distance at which one astronomical unit subtends an angle of one arcsecond. In other words, it is the distance from which the Earth-Sun distance would appear as one arcsecond on the sky. This can be illustrated by an imaginary right triangle, where the adjacent side is one au, the opposite side is one parsec, and the angle opposite to the parsec side is one arcsecond.

History of the parsec

The concept of the parsec was first proposed by the British astronomer Herbert Hall Turner in 1913, as a convenient unit for expressing stellar distances. He coined the term by blending “parallax” and “second”. He also suggested using the symbol “pc” for parsec.

The first measurement of a stellar parallax was made by Friedrich Bessel in 1838, for the star 61 Cygni. He found that the star had a parallax of 0.314 arcseconds, which corresponds to a distance of about 10.4 parsecs. Since then, many more stars have been measured for their parallaxes, using various methods such as telescopes, satellites and interferometers.

The parsec is now widely used in astronomy and astrophysics, especially for objects within and around the Milky Way galaxy. For more distant objects, such as galaxies and quasars, larger units such as kiloparsecs (kpc), megaparsecs (Mpc) and gigaparsecs (Gpc) are used.

How to convert parsec

To convert parsecs to other units of length, we can use the following conversion factors:

• 1 pc = 3.0857 × 10^¹⁶ m
• 1 pc = 1.9174 × 10^¹³ mi
• 1 pc = 2.06265 × 10^⁵ au
• 1 pc = 3.26156 ly

To convert other units of length to parsecs, we can use the inverse of these conversion factors:

• 1 m = 3.24078 × 10^^-17 pc
• 1 mi = 5.21553 × 10^^-14 pc
• 1 au = 4.84814 × 10^^-6 pc
• 1 ly = 0.306601 pc

Where parsec is used

The parsec is mainly used in astronomy and astrophysics, as it is a convenient unit for expressing distances between stars and other celestial objects. For example:

• The nearest star to the Sun, Proxima Centauri, is about 1.3 pc away.
• The center of our galaxy, the Milky Way, is about 8 kpc away.
• The nearest galaxy to ours, Andromeda, is about 780 kpc away.
• The most distant quasar known, ULAS J1342+0928, is about 8.8 Gpc away.

The parsec can also be used in other fields that deal with large distances or angles, such as geodesy, navigation and surveying.

Example conversions of parsec to other units

Here are some examples of converting parsecs to other units of length:

• How many meters are in one parsec?

To convert one parsec to meters, we multiply by the conversion factor:

1 pc × 3.0857 × 10^¹⁶ m/pc = 3.0857 × 10^¹⁶ m

• How many miles are in 10 parsecs?

To convert 10 parsecs to miles, we multiply by the conversion factor:

10 pc × 1.9174 × 10^¹³ mi/pc = 1.9174 × 10^¹⁴ mi

• How many astronomical units are in 0.01 parsecs?

To convert 0.01 parsecs to astronomical units, we multiply by the conversion factor:

0.01 pc × 2.06265 × 10^⁵ au/pc = 2.06265 × 10^³ au

• How many light-years are in 100 parsecs?

To convert 100 parsecs to light-years, we multiply by the conversion factor:

100 pc × 3.26156 ly/pc = 326.156 ly

• How many parsecs are in one meter?

To convert one meter to parsecs, we divide by the conversion factor:

1 m / (3.0857 × 10^¹⁶ m/pc) = 3.24078 × 10^^-17 pc

• How many parsecs are in one mile?

To convert one mile to parsecs, we divide by the conversion factor:

1 mi / (1.9174 × 10^¹³ mi/pc) = 5.21553 × 10^^-14 pc

• How many parsecs are in one astronomical unit?

To convert one astronomical unit to parsecs, we divide by the conversion factor:

1 au / (2.06265 × 10^⁵ au/pc) = 4.84814 × 10^^-6 pc

• How many parsecs are in one light-year?

To convert one light-year to parsecs, we divide by the conversion factor:

1 ly / (3.26156 ly/pc) = 0.306601 pc