Why Do We Still Use 'Knots'?

The term "knots" originates from an old maritime practice. Sailors used a device called a log line to measure the speed of their ship. The log line was a rope with knots tied at regular intervals. They would throw the rope overboard and count the number of knots that passed through their hands in a specific amount of time, usually measured with a sandglass. This method allowed them to determine the ship's speed in nautical miles per hour, which is why we still use the term "knots" today

I'm surprised it didn't come up, but we do have a name for one arc minute which is nautical miles. So a knot is one nautical mile per hour. These are used because it does make things much easier to calculate in a map, and it's used not only in ships but also in aviation.

Pop Quiz Time! Convert 100 knots into km h? (let's see how the Americans fare)

Neil should have started by saying a minute of latitude is one nautical mile.

It makes perfect sense to me. I am a Navy veteran. We learned about all this and much more. It’s a great system. I mean they used it way back when to navigate the globe. It works. In fact the USN still plots the old school way just in case the GPS goes down. We can still navigate without modern technology. I was a welder but watching the quartermasters and such navigate and plot always fascinated me. I joined in 2002 and served on CV-63, LHA-1, and LCC-19. Shoutout!

Knotted up right now is crazyyy

Fun fact: You can calculate latitude (relatively) easily with an astrolabe, but longitude is almost impossible because the Earth rotates. The guy who cracked the problem by associating longitude with time was John Harrison. He was from Greenwich, England, which is why the Prime Meridian is there.

These were the most educational comments I ever read. They really added a lot to the topic.

02:22 "We do." - still in character 😂😂😂. Gotta love Chuck's improv skills 😊❤

This is so much more enjoyable when you know you do t have an exam about it on Friday.