What is Length: Definition and 1000 Discussions

Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the International System of Units (SI) system the base unit for length is the metre.
Length is commonly understood to mean the most extended dimension of a fixed object. However, this is not always the case and may depend on the position the object is in.
Various terms for the length of a fixed object are used, and these include height, which is vertical length or vertical extent, and width, breadth or depth. Height is used when there is a base from which vertical measurements can be taken. Width or breadth usually refer to a shorter dimension when length is the longest one. Depth is used for the third dimension of a three dimensional object.Length is the measure of one spatial dimension, whereas area is a measure of two dimensions (length squared) and volume is a measure of three dimensions (length cubed).

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  1. G

    Graduating Engineer - Should I Take a 1 Year Job?

    I will be graduating with an engineering degree (mechanical) in May of 2014. The city that I currently live in is not where I want to stay after I graduate; however, my wife is well established in her career and it makes sense for us to stay here for a year or so in order to save up money etc...
  2. NotAMethDealer

    Length Contraction Affect on Mass: Physics Explained

    If an object is going at near C(light velocity) and undergoes length contraction. Does the mass fluctuate?I apologize if it is an obvious question but I'm a little rusty on my physics.
  3. H

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    The problem is to a.) solve for the slope m of the hypotenuse of the right triangle indicated by the shaded area, and b.) solve for the length of the hypotenuse, if possible. I made a mistake in transcribing the problem onto paper, the line of course extends indefinitely but the shaded area and...
  4. S

    Statistical physics - average length of polymer

    Homework Statement A polymer consits of ##10^{20}## monomers, each 2 nm long. One end of the polymer is hanged at the ceiling on the other end, we have a load of ##4\cdot 10^{-10}g##. Calculate the average potential energy!Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution Well... I don't know...
  5. N

    Length change of diagonal in deformable triangle

    Hi I have a problem understanding a figure in my lecture notes. The figure is the following one It shows the deformation of a triangular element from time t to time t+dt: So at t it is a isosceles triangle and at t+dt it is deformed. According to my lecture notes (page 16, eq. 28), the...
  6. A

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    Why is it that the maximum sound coming from a Rijke tube happens only when heated wire gauze is placed at 1/4th the length of the tube from the bottom. According to Rayleighs criterion(copy pasted) "If heat be periodically communicated to, and abstracted from, a mass of air vibrating in a...
  7. Dilatino

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    I have just learned from nice article http://motls.blogspot.com/2013/12/edward-witten-what-every-quantum.html that the propagator of a massive particle can be rewritten as an integral over the so-called Schwinger parameter t as $$ \frac{1}{p^2 + m^2} = \int\limits_0^\infty dt...
  8. PhizKid

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  9. ThomasMagnus

    Relating Arc Length and Standing Wave Patterns

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  10. M

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  11. S

    Optical path length change due to absorption

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  12. Superposed_Cat

    Length Contraction oes the object or travel distance shrink?

    Length Contraction:Does the object or travel distance shrink? I had always thought that length contraction meant that the object itself shrunk but I stumbled across an article where they said "Because of length contraction the photon doesn't travel any distance at all. Which is it? Any help...
  13. Y

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  14. T

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  15. U

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    Homework Statement px+qy=40 is a chord of minimum length of the circle (x-10)^2 + (y-20)^2 = 729 . If the chord passes through (5,15), then p^{2013}+q^{2013} is equal to Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution Let chord length be L \frac{L}{2} = 729-...
  16. T

    Do length contraction affects accelerating objects?

    Suppose I'm standing on Earth and i see an iron rod accelerating through space with a rate of 1m/s^2. Will it undergo length contraction after reaching a speed nearly to the c? Will there be any deformations to a spinning disk?
  17. F

    How does this affect the length contraction paradox?

    Hi, As is well known, Relativity claims that a rod of a given proper length will appear length contracted when measured by a moving observer. Now consider a rod of length L and observer initially at rest relatively to it, with one end of the rod at the observer's coordinate x1(0) and the...
  18. B

    Problem caused by length contraction and relativity and personal expla

    The problem has been shown in the picture. Because of relativity, both the guys on the ground and on the vehicle would observe length contraction. So the destination of the guy on the vehicle---the galaxy, would be more closed to him. If the vehicle is replaced with the light, which means the...
  19. R

    Finding the bond length of hydrogen theoretically

    If the bond length of two atoms is the distance where the force of repulsion is equal to the force of attraction, then one could figure out what the bond length of H2 is by setting the net force of attraction to the net force of repulsion and solving for distance. However when I try this ...
  20. C

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  21. H

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    Homework Statement y^2 = x from (0,0) to (1,1) Homework Equations L = ∫√(1+[g'(y)]^2) dy The Attempt at a Solution So this is a problem in my textbook that has been bothering me because I can't seem to come up with the same answer. 1. [bounds 0 to 1] 1/2∫ sec^3θ was obtained...
  22. Z

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  23. A

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  24. M

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  25. R

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  26. N

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  27. M

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  28. I

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  29. A

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  30. C

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  31. M

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  32. C

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  33. S

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  34. N

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  35. W

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  36. U

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  37. P

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  38. D

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  39. L

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  40. R

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  41. S

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  42. C

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  43. J

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  44. C

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  45. C

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  46. PsychonautQQ

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  47. T

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  48. V

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  49. MarkFL

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  50. stripes

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