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Length/Distance | Convert from ell [Scotland] to X unit |
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Common Length Conversions Metric Length Conversions Unit Definition (ell [Scotland]) See the English El (or Ell). This Scottish length is shorter than the English El. It may reflect an old practice of cloth merchants in giving an extra inch with each yard, to allow for any irregular cutting at the ends of the piece. However, the English cloth ell is definitely longer than the yard; it seems to be the distance from the shoulder to the fingers of the opposite hand. This reflects a practice of cloth merchants of holding the cloth at the shoulder with one hand and pulling the piece through with the opposite hand. This cloth ell was used with a similar length in France, where it was called the aune. The Dutch el and German elle are a little more than half the English ell; they may represent "arm's-length" units like the Italian braccio, the Russian sadzhen, and the Turkish pik Unit Definition (X unit) The X-unit (symbol xu) is a unit of length formerly used to measure the wavelength of X-rays and gamma rays. The X-unit is approximately 1.0021×10-13 metre. Defined by the Swedish physicist Karl Manne Georg Siegbahn (1886-1978) in 1925, the X-unit could not at that time be measured directly; the definition was instead made in terms of the spacing between planes of the calcite crystals used in the measuring apparatus.
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