A "nail" is a traditional unit of length used for measuring cloth or fabric, particularly in some regions of India. The nail is based on the width of a finger, and it is typically equal to approximately 2.25 inches or about 5.715 centimeters.
Nails were historically used in the textile and clothing industry to measure the width of cloth or fabric. However, like many other traditional units of measurement for textiles, the nail has largely been replaced by more standardized and metric units, such as inches, centimeters, or meters, in modern times.
A chain is a unit of length used in some older systems of measurement, particularly in surveying and land measurement. In the United States, one chain is equal to 66 feet or 22 yards. Internationally, it's defined as exactly 20.1168 meters.
Chains were historically used for measuring large plots of land and for surveying purposes, often in agriculture and real estate. However, the use of the chain as a standard unit of measurement has largely been replaced by the more modern and standardized metric and imperial systems, which use units like meters, feet, and yards.
The term "chain" comes from the practice of physically measuring land using a chain made of linked metal bars or wire. Each chain was typically 66 feet long, and surveyors would lay out chains end to end to measure distances across large areas. Today, modern surveying equipment such as electronic distance measuring devices (EDMs) and GPS technology have largely replaced the use of physical chains in land surveying.