# Standard Unit of Length

What is the standard unit of length?

We know some non-standard units of length like hand-span, cubit, etc., and also with standard units of length like meter and centimeter. We have seen a meter-rod used by a tailor. It is used to measure the length of a cloth. The length of a meter-rod is called meter.

Length is measured in meters and centimetres and longer distances in kilometres.

One meter is divided into hundred equal parts. One division of this meter is known as one centimeter. To measure the length of the postcard, notebook, etc. we use centimeters (cm).

The meter-rod is used to measure the length of cloth, height of a place and small distances like length and breadth of a field, depth of a well, height of a building, etc.

The main standard unit of length is Meter. The short form of meter is ‘m’.

To measure the length of the saree, classroom, blackboard, etc. we use meters (m).

The 100th part of a meter is called centimeter. Centimeter is the smaller standard unit of length. The short form of centimeter is ‘cm’.

We use it to measure smaller lengths, such as length and breadth of a book, length of a pen, etc.

Two types of scales are used by the students in a geometry box; one scale is of 30 centimeters length and the other is 15 centimeters long.

There are also long measuring tapes for measuring lengths. A meter-tape is used for tailoring work and it is one and a half meter long. There are some long measuring tapes about 50 meters and 100 meters long. Such tapes are used to measure big lengths such as length and breadth of a field or park, etc.

We use the unit kilometer to measure very long distance such as the length of a road, distance between two cities, etc., The unit kilometer is equal to 1000 meters. In short kilometer is written as ‘km’.

To measure distance from one place to another, i.e. from house to school; from school to hospital; from California to Florida, etc. We use kilometers (km).

Thus, we can conclude that there are three main standard units of length, i.e., kilometer (km), meter (m) and centimeter (cm). Click here to know about the relation between the three units of length.

Standard units are also known as the SI units, which stand for International System of Units.

Related Concepts