Measurement has been fundamentally necessary to humans throughout history. In ancient Egypt, the royal was a measure for length. It was approximately the length of a grown-up’s forearm. The royal cubit comprised seven palm widths, and a palm was four digits wide. Today, most of the world uses the metric system to measure things such as weather, liquids, distance and size of objects. But the Imperial system is still used in the United States.
A tale of two systems
It was obvious to people centuries ago that using common units of measure were necessary for accuracy. It is believed that the Romans used standard measurement tools and units for fair commerce in their markets.
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In 1799, the French adopted the standard metre bar and kilogram bar as the first metric standards we now know as the International System of Units. In 1824, British Parliament passed a law called the Weights and Measures Act to establish their own standards for measurements. And so was born the British Imperial System which uses inches, feet, yards and miles for measuring length. A standard foot measure was set at 12 inches. A standard mile was made of 5,280 feet. A similar system that also uses inches, feet, yards and miles is widely used in the US today.
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To the moon
When someone says “I love you to the moon and back,” it can be measured. The distance varies depending on where the moon is located in its orbit and where on Earth you’re blasting off from. All things considered, the average distance from here to the moon is about 384,400 km or 238,855 miles. Double it for the distance back again and that’s a whole lot of love.
Using the Olympic chart below, take the math measurement challenge.
Did you know that a smell can be measured?
Call it reek, stink, stench, fragrance or aroma, the European Odour Unit or OUE measures the concentration of an odour’s intensity. By using an olfactometer, a smell’s dilution to the threshold (D/T) is registered. Simply put, the dilution to threshold is how much concentration of a smell is needed for a human to sense it. Though it wouldn’t be considered a great achievement, the stink of a sneaker at the olympics could be measured. Medal-worthy? We think it may be better suited to a Guinness World Record.
