Convert Barn (b (area)) to Section (section) instantly.
About these units
Barn (b (area))
The barn is an area unit used almost exclusively in nuclear and particle physics, equal to 10⁻²⁸ square meters. Despite its incredibly tiny size, the barn emerged from humorous origins: early nuclear physicists joked that certain atomic nuclei were "as big as a barn" compared to the particles trying to hit them. The barn quantifies interaction cross-sections—essentially probabilities of particles colliding or interacting with nuclei. Because fundamental forces operate at extremely small scales, typical cross-section values lie in the microbarn, nanobarn, or picobarn range. The barn is essential for describing reaction rates in particle accelerators, nuclear reactors, and astrophysical processes such as stellar fusion.
Section (section)
A section is a unit of area equal to one square mile, or 640 acres, derived from the PLSS township system. Each township contains 36 sections arranged in a 6-by-6 grid. Sections were historically granted to settlers, railroads, and states for development, education funding, and agricultural expansion. Because a section is large but manageable, it provided a logical unit for dividing land among homesteaders. Even today, the section persists as a foundation of rural property boundaries. Many farms, ranches, and municipal boundaries reference section lines, reflecting how 19th-century surveying still shapes 21st-century land use.