General Knowledge · 2
Why did the original meter definition end up not exactly matching its intended one ten-millionth fraction of a quarter-meridian?
Answer
Because 18th-century surveyors' measurements of Earth's shape were slightly inaccurate
The scientists who surveyed the Paris meridian in the 1790s made small errors in calculating Earth's exact shape and curvature, so the resulting meter was slightly off from a true one ten-millionth of the pole-to-equator distance.
💡 Did you know?
The meter was originally one ten-millionth the distance from Earth's equator to North Pole, but Earth's shape measurements were slightly wrong.
Other options people guess
- Because the platinum-iridium bar used to store the meter physically expanded over time
- Because France later redefined the meter using a different reference city
- Because the metric system was revised to match British imperial standards
Topics
- measurement
- history
- science
- metric-system
Know your general knowledge trivia?
Play a free General Knowledge quiz and see how many you get right — no signup needed to start.
More General Knowledge facts
General Knowledge
In what year was the meter redefined based on the speed of light rather than a physical platinum bar?
The meter was redefined in 1983 using light speed rather than a platinum bar, making it the first measurement based purely on physics.
General Knowledge
According to the medieval origin of timekeeping units, how did scholars arrive at the 'second' as a measure of time?
Seconds were invented by medieval scholars dividing hours into sixty parts repeatedly, calling each division a 'second' subdivision of time.
General Knowledge
Which Swiss engineer invented Velcro after noticing how burrs clung to his dog's fur during a 1941 hunting trip?
Velcro was inspired by burrs sticking to a Swiss engineer's dog fur during a hunting trip in 1941.
General Knowledge
Which nautical unit of speed got its name from sailors counting knots tied at fixed intervals in a rope trailed behind the ship?
A knot measures ship speed because sailors tied knots in rope at fixed intervals, counting how many passed overboard in 28 seconds.
General Knowledge
In which country did the legal practice behind the idiom "caught red-handed" originate?
"Caught red-handed" doesn't refer to blood—it meant catching a poacher with fresh deer blood on their hands, a prosecutable offense in medieval Scotland.
General Knowledge
Which British artist designed the peace symbol in 1958 by combining two semaphore letters inside a circle?
The peace sign (☮) was designed in 1958 by combining the semaphore letters N and D—for 'Nuclear Disarmament'—inside a circle.