Wednesday 16 May 2012

How long is HMS Ocean in Greenwich?

Answer: About 203.4 metres (667 feet), the same as it is anywhere else.

My latest blogpost: How long is HMS Ocean in Greenwich?Tweet this! Posted by Mark Wadsworth at 14:29

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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just taking the pedantry tag (probably) too far for a moment, I'd have to suggest you add "provided the temperature is a constant" to your statement.

And not worry about whether the water temperature, or the air temperature, is more significant with regard to expansion / contraction of the vessel. :-)

16 May 2012 at 15:23
Mark Wadsworth said...

FT, that is why I added the caveat "about".

16 May 2012 at 15:32
Anonymous said...

Yeah, I know that, but was wondering about how much is "about". And it's a slow day at work because I'm finishing for some holidays in an hour.

I should have checked, of course, so you have my apologies as the ship in question would only be half an inch longer if the temperature increased from 0C to 30C.

Curses. As my mother used to say: "back in your cheese, maggot".

16 May 2012 at 15:49
Mark Wadsworth said...

FT, that's a cunning calculator, but it tells me that HMS Ocean would be all of 9.76 centimetres longer (about four inches). So maybe you need a break?

16 May 2012 at 15:53
Anonymous said...

Maybe so, indeed. Greece, here I come :-)

16 May 2012 at 16:07
Anonymous said...

Reminded me of this:

http://www.c4vct.com/kym/humor/maintrep.htm

16 May 2012 at 17:24
Sarton Bander said...

Also depends on it's velocity. It'll be very much shorter travelling at high fractions on the speed of light.

16 May 2012 at 17:29
Sarton Bander said...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Length_contraction

16 May 2012 at 17:32
Derek said...

Hmmm, so if it was in Greenwich for less than 5 microseconds, it would be quite short really. Sounds like we could find out whether it'll be there for two months or 2 milliseconds by measuring how long it is...

16 May 2012 at 20:38

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