Knots converted to mph?

[cantsitstill]

Does anyone know the conversion for this? Just out of curiousity!

 

[GenieDana]

1 knot is 1.15 MPH, so if the ship is sailing 22 knots, it is going 25.3 miles per hour

 

[cantsitstill]

Thanks much Genie! Trying to learn all I can and you all are sooo helpful!

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

I agree. Thank you. I usually don't think of that question until I'm on a cruise and forget when I get off.

HBC

 

[HooKooDooKu]

Trying to learn all I can

OK, then here's the trivia question.

What does the unit "knot" come from?

As an example, the measurement "cubit" comes from the length of a person's forearm's length just like "foot" comes from the size of a human's foot (the real question there is who's foot was used to standardize what in English units we call the foot today... but that's another trivia question).

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

A knot refers to a nautical mile. A nautical mile refers to one minute of latitude. A minute is 1/60 of a degree. The distance from the Equator to the North Pole is 90° x 60 minutes = 5400 nautical miles.

 

[Towncrier]

You can use google.com to lookup conversions. If you type in "miles per nautical mile" in the search field, Google will return:

1 nautical mile = 1.15077945 miles

A very handy feature of Google.

 

[GenieDana]

In a related "trivia," 1 register ton (internal volume of ships) = 100 cubic feet. So the Disney Wonder and Magic are registered at 85,000 tons, or 8,500,000 cubic feet.

That is the same size (volume) of a square box 204 feet on each side.

How many ping pong balls would fit inside that box????

Next question - How much do the Disney Magic and Wonder weigh? (If someone knows the draft, it is a relatively easy calculation)

 

[m23hebert]

The term knot came from the old sailing days when they used a knot log. The device was a line with knots tied into it, it was then trailed behind the vessel. The sailors would then count the number of knots as the line went out to figure out how fast the vessel was going.

 

[Jimbo]

And if you go see the movie "Master and Commander" (which I highly recommend), you can see a knot log in action.