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We know the kind we get in our backs, the ones that are in tree trunks, we know the garlic kind we can get at Joe's or John's. We hear the term a lot... "Good afternoon from the cockpit, we're currently cruising at 33,000 feet doing 300 knots..." So what the hell is a knot? A common misconception is that a knots are simply miles per hour but in the air or on the sea. Wouldn't that be convenient... but alas it's not.
A knot is a measure of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour. A nautical mile is one minute of one degree of longitude and is just a bit longer than a normal mile. To convert knots to miles per hour, multiply by 1.15. It is frequently used to measure wind, aircraft, and water craft speeds.
So while we measure everything by blocks... and considering the common estimate that 20 blocks (in the north/south direction) is one mile.. one nautical mile would equal 23 blocks. Thus a 20 minute trip from 125th and Bway to 14th St would have you cruising along at an average of about 14.6 knots (or 16.8 mph) and would now cost you just about $15 before tip. It's Math Monday kids!
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trying...really hard...not to make...Don Knotts joke...
also: what about furlongs? i know they're not weather-related, but they are tangentially related via the obscure(-ish) forms of measurement connection. kind of like reaumurs, eh joe?
Furlongs? A furlong, of course, is equal to 40 rods.
Henry Limpet would appreciate nautical miles and knots. The shortest route on a sphere is to travel via a great circle, an imaginary circle around the earth, like the equator, whose center passes through the center of the earth. Sailors, like Mr. Limpet's buddy George, used nautical miles because they could precisely measure latitude and longitude.
Just to be more specific, a nautical miles is the span of a minute of a degree of longitude at the equator. The distance between each degree will change with your latitude: the further north you are, the closer the degrees will be. At the poles, this distance is zero.