Convert length and distance units — meters, feet, inches, kilometers, miles, light years and more.
| Unit | Name | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 0.001 chain | 6.519e-19 pc | |
| 0.01 chain | 6.519e-18 pc | |
| 0.1 chain | 6.519e-17 pc | |
| 1 chain | 6.519e-16 pc | |
| 5 chain | 3.259e-15 pc | |
| 10 chain | 6.519e-15 pc | |
| 50 chain | 3.259e-14 pc | |
| 100 chain | 6.519e-14 pc | |
| 1000 chain | 6.519e-13 pc |
Multiply the number of Chains by 6.5187×10-16 to get Parsecs. Formula: pc = chain × 6.5187×10-16. Example: 10 chain × 6.5187×10-16 = 6.5187×10-15 pc. To reverse, divide Parsecs by 6.5187×10-16 to get Chains.
| Chain (chain) | Parsec (pc) |
|---|---|
| 0.001 chain | 6.5187×10-19 pc |
| 0.01 chain | 6.5187×10-18 pc |
| 0.1 chain | 6.5187×10-17 pc |
| 0.5 chain | 3.2594×10-16 pc |
| 1 chain | 6.5187×10-16 pc |
| 2 chain | 1.3037×10-15 pc |
| 5 chain | 3.2594×10-15 pc |
| 10 chain | 6.5187×10-15 pc |
| 20 chain | 1.3037×10-14 pc |
| 50 chain | 3.2594×10-14 pc |
| 100 chain | 6.5187×10-14 pc |
| 250 chain | 1.6297×10-13 pc |
| 500 chain | 3.2594×10-13 pc |
| 1000 chain | 6.5187×10-13 pc |
| 10000 chain | 6.5187×10-12 pc |
To convert Chain to Parsec, multiply by 6.5187×10-16. Example: 10 chain = 6.5187×10-15 pc
To convert Parsec back to Chain, divide by 6.5187×10-16 (multiply by 1.534×1015). Use the swap button above.
Start with 100 Chains = 6.5187×10-14 pc as your reference point. Scale up or down from there.
1 chain = 6.519×10⁻¹⁶ parsecs. This conversion spans 16 orders of magnitude — from a 17th-century agricultural measurement to a 20th-century astronomical measurement — making it the ultimate scale demonstration in physics courses.
Science writers use chain-to-parsec to make astronomical distances viscerally strange: "The nearest star is 1.3 parsecs away — that's 2 quadrillion chains. Edmund Gunter's 1620 survey tool laid end-to-end to the nearest star system."
The chain (1620) and the parsec (1913) represent nearly 300 years of measurement history. Comparing them illustrates the full arc of human exploration — from dividing English farm fields to measuring interstellar space.
Physics professors assign chain-to-parsec conversion in problem sets to test students' mastery of scientific notation and multi-step unit conversion — a calculation requiring 6 intermediate conversions and 16-digit precision.
Complete length unit databases include chain-to-parsec to ensure no conversion gap exists for researchers working across disciplines from land surveying and archaeology to astrophysics and cosmology.
Science museums and planetariums use chain-to-parsec comparisons in interactive exhibits to help visitors grasp the range of human measurement — from the tools of a 17th-century English surveyor to the scales of modern astronomy.
The Chain is a unit of Length measurement (symbol: chain). 1 chain = 6.5187×10-16 pc. Used in scientific and practical Length measurement applications.
The Parsec is a unit of Length measurement (symbol: pc). It is part of an internationally recognised measurement system used alongside the Chain.
Edmund Gunter invented the surveyor's chain in 1620. His design — 100 links totalling exactly 66 feet — was brilliantly chosen: 10 chains × 10 chains = 1 acre, making area calculation trivially simple in the field. 80 chains = 1 mile, 10 chains = 1 furlong. The chain became standard across the British Empire and is written into American law — the US Public Land Survey System still divides land using chains and links.
The parsec was introduced in 1913 by British astronomer Herbert Hall Turner as a practical unit for stellar parallax measurements. It equals the distance at which 1 astronomical unit subtends 1 arcsecond — approximately 3.086×10¹³ kilometres or 3.26 light-years. The name blends 'parallax' and 'arcsecond'. Professional astronomers strongly prefer parsecs over light-years because parallax directly yields distance in parsecs without any intermediate calculation.
Common use: Chain to Parsec conversion is needed when working with international standards, scientific publications, or reference materials that use different unit systems for Length measurement.