Convert Rod (US Survey) (rd (US)) to Terameter (Tm) instantly.
About these units
Rod (US Survey) (rd (US))
The US Survey Rod equals 16.5 US Survey Feet (~5.0292 meters). Like the chain and furlong, it serves as a subdivision of larger units, maintaining consistency with historic Gunter-based measurements. Surveyors historically used rods to measure short distances, delineate boundaries, and calculate acreages. Its simple relationship to chains and furlongs made it practical for field measurements without complex arithmetic. Today, the US survey rod primarily appears in historical records, legal surveys, and when referencing pre-metric property data, providing continuity between older and modern surveying conventions.
Terameter (Tm)
A terameter equals one trillion meters (10¹² m) and is used when discussing distances that exceed the scale of the solar system but do not yet reach the interstellar unit category. Large-scale solar system phenomena—such as the size of the heliosphere, the influence boundary of the Sun's magnetic field, or trajectories of far-reaching spacecraft—may be expressed in terameters. While not widely used in astronomical literature (which often prefers astronomical units, light-years, or parsecs), the terameter provides a SI-based unit that aligns cleanly with metric prefixes. It is especially useful in theoretical physics or cosmological modeling where sticking to SI units simplifies equations.