Editing Smoot (section)

==Practical use==
The bridge is marked with painted markings indicating how many smoots there are from where the sidewalk begins on the [[Charles River]] bank in Boston, with a number every ten smoots.<ref name="museum">{{citation |url=http://web.mit.edu/museum/fun/smoots.html |title=MIT Trivia: Harvard Bridge |access-date=July 10, 2020 |publisher=MIT Museum |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970806205154/http://web.mit.edu/museum/fun/smoots.html |archive-date=August 6, 1997}}</ref> The marks were repainted each semester by the incoming associate member class (similar to pledge class) of Lambda Chi Alpha before they were suspended due to repeated infractions of MIT's alcohol rules.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.mit.edu/2014/lambda-chi-alpha-national-suspends-mit-chapter-1030 |title=Lambda Chi Alpha national suspends MIT chapter for at least five years |date=October 30, 2014 |publisher=MIT News}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://thetech.com/2014/10/31/lca-v134-n51 | title=LCA banned five years, brothers move out Sunday }}</ref><ref name=haer3>{{cite book |author= Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) |title= Harvard Bridge, Spanning Charles River at Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, Suffolk County, MA |url= https://loc.gov/pictures/item/ma1293/ |access-date= May 12, 2009 |year= 1987 |publisher= Department of the Interior |location= Philadelphia |page= 5}}</ref> Lambda Chi Alpha alumni, along with current students of MIT, have maintained the markings.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-10-27 |title=Repainting the Smoots |url=https://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/repainting-the-smoots/ |access-date=2024-02-29 |website=MIT Admissions |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=2021-09-20 |title=Uncovering The 'Smoots' on Harvard Bridge |url=https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/uncovering-the-smoots-on-harvard-bridge/2494759/ |access-date=2024-02-29 |website=NBC Boston |language=en-US}}</ref>

Markings typically appear every {{convert|10|smoot|ft m}}, but additional marks appear at other numbers in between. For example, the {{convert|70|smoot|ft m|adj=on}} mark is accompanied by a mark for [[69 (number)|69]].  The {{convert|182.2|smoot|ftin m|adj=on}} mark is accompanied by the words "Halfway to Hell" and an arrow pointing towards MIT. 

The markings are recognized as [[milestone]]s on the bridge, to the degree that during bridge renovations in the 1980s, the Cambridge, Massachusetts, police department requested that the markings be restored, since they were routinely used in police reports to identify locations on the bridge. The renovators at the [[Massachusetts Highway Department]] also scored the concrete surface of the sidewalk on the bridge at {{convert|5|ft|7|in|m|adj=on}} intervals instead of the conventional {{convert|6|ft|m|2}}.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/07/AR2005120702328_pf.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |title=The Measure of This Man Is in the Smoot |first=David A. |last=Fahrenthold |access-date=May 23, 2010}}</ref> The Lambda Zeta (MIT) chapter of Lambda Chi Alpha, which created the smoot markings, continues to repaint the markings once or twice per year.<ref>[https://news.mit.edu/1999/hacks-0901 Keyser describes his top five hacks - MIT News Office]</ref>

Starting in 2011, [[Google Earth]] enabled the ability to measure distance using smoots, with the standard length of 5 feet 7 inches.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Google Earth backs Smoots as measurement standard {{!}} Blue Mass Group |url=https://bluemassgroup.com/2011/10/google-earth-backs-smoots-as-measurement-standard/ |access-date=2022-04-16 |website=bluemassgroup.com |date=October 10, 2011 |language=en-US}}</ref> The calculator function of [[Google Search]] also provides values in smoots,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2011/10/05/141009438/whats-a-smoot |title=What's a Smoot |author=Benjamin Arthur and Robert Krulwich |date=October 5, 2011 |publisher=NPR |accessdate=February 9, 2025}}</ref> and in 2011, smoot was one of the 10,000 new words added to the fifth edition of ''[[The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language|The American Heritage Dictionary]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last=Cornish |first=Audie |date=November 13, 2011 |title=Looking Up Words In A Book Not So Strange Yet |url=https://www.npr.org/2011/11/13/142284657/looking-up-words-in-a-book-not-so-strange-yet |access-date=December 10, 2012 |work=NPR |publisher=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=American Heritage Dictionary entry: smoot |url=http://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=smoot&submit.x=47&submit.y=23 |access-date=December 10, 2012 |work=American Heritage Dictionary |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company}}</ref> Robert Tavenor's book covering the history of measurement is titled ''Smoot's Ear: The Measure of Humanity''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Tavenor |first=Robert |title=Smoot's Ear: The Measure of Humanity |year=2008 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0300143348 |page=xv-xvi}}</ref> MIT's student-run [[college radio]] station [[WMBR]] gives its broadcasting wavelength as {{convert|2|smoot|m|2|spell=in}}, i.e. 88.1&nbsp;MHz.<ref>{{cite tweet|user=wacnt|number=874778755885084673|title= W{{!}}A can: WMBR frequency * smoot / speed of light|author=Wolfram{{!}}Alpha Can't|date= June 13, 2017}}</ref>