What's an Acre?

Civics on the Rocks

Come for the archaic units of measure, stay for the metric throwdown!

The concept of an acre is so enigmatic that in a podcast titled “What’s an Acre?”, we still got it wrong. An acre is 4,840 square yards and not feet as we say repeatedly in this podcast:

Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Acre: Unit of measurement.” Updated February 9, 2024. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/acre-unit-of-measurement

Believe it or not, the measurement of a chain is still used in the world:

National Wildfire Coordinating Group. “Chain, Pace, Walking a Chain.” https://www.nwcg.gov/course/ffm/vert-horiz-and-slope/46-chain-pace-walking-a-chain

Mack did not make up the name Edmund Gunter:

National Museum of American History. “Surveyor’s Chain.” https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/nmah_761634

Want to deep dive into the vara and other Spanish units of measure:

Reyes-Martinez, Marcos A. “The Vara: A Standard of Length With a Not-So-Standard History.” October 11, 2019. National Institute of Standards and Technology. https://www.nist.gov/blogs/taking-measure/vara-standard-length-not-so-standard-history

Anne misspoke, they are not the Daughters of the Alamo, they are in fact:

The Daughters of the Republic of Texas. https://drtinfo.org/

If, like Steve and Mack, you can’t remember your Texas history:

Barker, Eugene C. “Austin, Stephen Fuller (1793–1836).” Updated February 25, 2021. Texas State Historical Association. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/austin-stephen-fuller

According to this very serious deep dive into the cubit, it’s still in use in some locations:

Stone, Mark. H. “The Cubit: A History and Measurement Commentary.” January 30, 2014. Journal of Anthropology. https://www.hindawi.com/journals/janthro/2014/489757/

The Constitution, article 1, section 8, clause 5:

“...To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures...”

https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/articles/article-i#article-section-8

“One platinum bar in France” would be a great name for a novel:

National Institute of Standards and Technology. “Meter.” Updated June 2, 2021. https://www.nist.gov/si-redefinition/meter

Here’s a brief overview of the metric system that notes that the second is actually considered the metric unit of time:

U.S. Metric Association. “Origin of the Metric System.” Updated October 22, 2019. https://usma.org/origin-of-the-metric-system

A little about time and the sexagesimal system:

Lombardi, Michael A. “Why is a minute divided into 60 seconds, an hour into 60 minutes, yet there are only 24 hours in a day?” March 5, 2007. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/experts-time-division-days-hours-minutes/

Here’s someone talking more eloquently and authoritatively about the metric system than us:

Benham, Elizabeth. “Busting Myths about the Metric System.” October 6, 2020. National Institute of Standards and Technology. https://www.nist.gov/blogs/taking-measure/busting-myths-about-metric-system

Let’s talk about temperature:

Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Temperature.” Updated February 13, 2024. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/temperature

Steve’s favorite book:

Daniel Immerwahr. How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States. (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2019).

Seeking economic advantage is one reason people change the primary language they use:

Tesch, Noah. “Why Do Languages Die?” February 19, 2016. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/story/why-do-languages-die

Definition of commerce:

Merriam-Webster. “Commerce.” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/commerce

Not familiar with nautical miles and knots:

National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration. “What is the difference between a nautical mile and a knot?” National Ocean Service. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/nautical-mile-knot

How to make a Black Velvet:

https://www.liquor.com/recipes/black-velvet/

How to make a Boilermaker:

https://www.liquor.com/recipes/boilermaker/

What Steve is reading:

Ray Bradbury. The Illustrated Man. (Simon &Schuster, 1951).

Ray Bradbury. The Martian Chronicles. (Simon &Schuster, 1950).

What Mack is reading:

Annie Jacobsen. Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America. (Little, Brown, and Company, 2014).

Walter Lord. A Night to Remember. (Griffin, 1955).

Did the U.S. military consider using gas weapons in World War II?

The National World War II Museum: New Orleans. “Should We Use Poison Gas?” May 5, 2018. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/wwii-polls/roper-polls-poison-gas

Factors in the decision to drop the atomic bomb:

National Park Service. “Harry Truman’s Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb.” January 11, 2023. https://www.nps.gov/articles/trumanatomicbomb.htm

What Anne is watching:

Yamazaki, Takashi, director. Godzilla Minus One. 2023; Toho Studios Co. Ltd. 2 hours, 4 minutes.

If you are disappointed that Steven didn’t go into the Whiskey Rebellion:

History.com Editors. “Whiskey Rebellion.” Updated June 21, 2023. History. https://www.history.com/topics/early-us/whiskey-rebellion

You’re on your own for the measurements, but here’s the song “A Bushel and a Peck”:

https://youtu.be/YoVt12EyzKw?si=whrkDHRnCGsziVaD

Here’s a lot about barrels:

Gerali, Francesco. “Barrel (Unit of Measurement).” 2019. Engineering and Technology History Wiki. https://ethw.org/Barrel_(Unit_of_Measurement)

Here’s why a pint is, in fact, not a pound the world round:

Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Pint.” April 29, 2004. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/pint

And we truly love and appreciate our tens of listeners. But you already knew that.