Yard facts for kids

The Yard (abbreviation yd, plural sometimes yds) is a unit of length in the Imperial System and United States Customary Units.

The word "yard" comes from the Anglo-Saxon word for a straight rod.

History

Bronze Yard No.11, the official standard of length for the United States between 1855 and 1892, when the Treasury Department formally adopted a metric standard. Bronze Yard No.11 was forged to be an exact copy of the British Imperial Standard Yard held by Parliament. Both are line standards: the yard was defined by the distance at 62°F between two fine lines drawn on gold plugs (closeup, top) installed in recesses near each end of the bar.

A yard has always been 3 feet, although the length of a foot has changed frequently throughout history. In 1959, the International Yard and Pound Agreement was signed between the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, the United States, New Zealand and Canada. It was defined as 0.9144 metres. The United States continued to use the old yard under the name 'Survey Yard'.

Length

Usage

Roadsigns in the United States and the United Kingdom are in miles and yards, rarely in Canada and the Republic of Ireland. It can also be used as a measure of area (square yard) and as a measure of volume (cubic yard). It is also used to measure pitches and fields for a number of sports that originated from English speaking countries. It finds seldom use in other metricated Commonwealth Nations.

Images for kids

• 

  The informal public imperial measurement standards erected at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, London, in the 19th century: 1 British yard, 2 feet, 1 foot, 6 inches, and 3 inches. The inexact monument was designed to permit rods of the correct measure to fit snugly into its pins at an ambient temperature of 62 °F (16.66 °C).

• 

  Two yardsticks, used for measuring "yard goods"

See also

In Spanish: Yarda para niños