A Brief History of Some Common American Units of Length and Weight
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
AFT Fathom Quick Start Guide
AFT Fathom™ Quick Start Guide Metric Units AFT Fathom Version 10 Incompressible Pipe Flow Modeling Dynamic solutions for a fluid world ™ CAUTION! AFT Fathom is a sophisticated pipe flow analysis program designed for qualified engineers with experience in pipe flow analysis and should not be used by untrained individuals. AFT Fathom is intended solely as an aide for pipe flow analysis engineers and not as a replacement for other design and analysis methods, including hand calculations and sound engineering judgment. All data generated by AFT Fathom should be independently verified with other engineering methods. AFT Fathom is designed to be used only by persons who possess a level of knowledge consistent with that obtained in an undergraduate engineering course in the analysis of pipe system fluid mechanics and are familiar with standard industry practice in pipe flow analysis. AFT Fathom is intended to be used only within the boundaries of its engineering assumptions. The user should consult the AFT Fathom Help System for a discussion of all engineering assumptions made by AFT Fathom. Information in this document is subject to change without notice. No part of this Quick Start Guide may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the express written permission of Applied Flow Technology. © 2018 Applied Flow Technology Corporation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. First Printing. “AFT Fathom”, “Applied Flow Technology”, “Dynamic solutions for a fluid world”, and the AFT logo are trademarks of Applied Flow Technology Corporation. Excel and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. -
The Beautiful Cubit System I Douglas 2019 the Beautiful Cubit System
The Beautiful Cubit System I Douglas 2019 The Beautiful Cubit System Ian Douglas, B.Sc [email protected] 30 June 2019 Version 1.0.0 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3263864 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Abstract An analysis of the Egyptian Royal cubit, presenting some research and opinions flowing from that research, into what I believe was the original cubit, and how it was corrupted. I show various close arithmetic approximations and multiple ways of getting the divisions of the cubit, as well as some related measures. The cubit also encapsulates the basic components for the metric system. Keywords: Egyptology, metrology, royal cubit, cubit, metre, foot, metric system Contents 1. Introduction 2. Overview of current understanding 3. An alternative origin 4. Different ways of approximating the royal cubit 5. Different ways of getting the cubit divisions 6. Geometry, the Royal Cubit and the metric system 7. Bibliography 1. Introduction The cubit is a well-know ancient measure of length, used around various places in the Middle East and Mediterranean region in the distant past. 1 The Beautiful Cubit System I Douglas 2019 It is allegedly based on the length of a human (male) fore-arm. It is typically measured from the back of the elbow to some point between the wrist and the end of the outstretched middle finger, or in some variants, a point beyond that. The problem with this approach is that everyone’s arm is a different length. If the heights of the dynastic Egyptians is taken as representative, then their arms would have been too short to justify the accepted lengths. -
12 Huggins CAA 1983.Pdf
103 SAXON BUILDI NG MEASUREMENTS P.J.Hu99 ins 27 Grange Court, Waltham ~bbey, ~ssex. Abstract The medieval ~nglish rod of 5.OJ m has been shown to have been in use back to the 6th c~ntury.The sub-divi'sions so fa.r detected are thirds and sixths of this .rod. '1',10 particular a.spects are considered in this paper. The first is vhether the rod was divided further into feet; it is suggested that the manupes-the foot measured by hand-at 15 to the rod is the likely contender. The second aspect concerns building data from r-Juckine. At least 66 Saxon post-hole buildings have been analysed and, provisionally, it appears that 40 were set out using a rod of about 4.65 m and 25 using the 5.03 m rod. Extant rods in the Saxon bomeland likewise have a mean value of 4.65 m suggesting this measure Has brought over by the original Saxon settlers at Bucking. Introduction In a developing sub'ject new ideas are formula.ted and old ideas rightly questioned and possibly discarded. Ne," data may support established hypotheses or change or add to the picture. At any particular time one or hvo aspects of a developing subject will appear to be of special importance in a \vorker t s mind. Such is the position at the present time. The first as~ect of current interest is whether or not the 5.03 m rod, used in the Saxon period, was divided into feet. The second aspect concerns a site '''here two measuring systems appear to have been in use. -
The History of Measurements
Helicobacter pylori Some Historical Units of Measurement History of Measurement • Objects were initially measured for convenience, to aid commerce and prevent fraud. • The Egyptians among other civilizations were the first to begin recording measurements around 3200 BC. • Early measurement units were based on body parts or common objects. Historical Units of Length and their equivalence chart ➢ Digit: the breadth of a finger (Egyptian) ➢ Barleycorn: the length of a barleycorn seed ➢ Inch: the width of a man’s thumb or 3 barleycorns ➢ Foot: the length of a man’s foot ➢ Cubit: elbow to fingertip length (Egyptian) ➢ Yard: nose to fingertip length ➢ Mile: 5000 pedes (feet, Roman) ➢ League: 7500 pedes Historical Units of Mass/Volume and their equivalence chart ➢ Grain: the weight of a grain of wheat or barleycorn ➢ Pound (libra): ~5000 grains (Roman) or ~7000 grains (English) ➢ Talent: 100 libra ➢ Stone: 14 pounds (English/British) ➢ Troy Ounce: 1/12 of a pound ➢ Carat: weight of a carob seed The Cubit The cubit is the measure from your elbow to the tip of your middle finger when your arm is extended. The cubit was the measurement used by the Egyptians to build the pyramids. The Palm The palm is the width of your four fingers when they are placed together. The Fathom The fathom is the measure from fingertip to fingertip when your arms are stretched sideways as far as they will go. The fathom was used by sailors to measure the depth of water so that boats would not run aground. The Hand-span The hand-span is the measure from the tip of your pinky to the tip of your thumb when your hand is stretched out. -
The History of Measurements
Helicobacter pylori Some Historical Units of Measurement Historical Units of Length ➢ Digit: the breadth of a finger (Egyptian) ➢ Barleycorn: the length of a barleycorn seed ➢ Inch: the width of a man’s thumb or 3 barleycorns ➢ Foot: the length of a man’s foot ➢ Cubit: elbow to fingertip length (Egyptian) ➢ Yard: nose to fingertip ➢ Mile: 5000 pedes (feet, Roman) ➢ League: 7500 pedes Historical Units of Mass/Volume ➢ Grain: the weight of a grain of wheat or barleycorn ➢ Pound (libra): ~5000 grains (Roman) or ~7000 grains (English) ➢ Talent: 100 libra ➢ Stone: 14 pounds (English/British) ➢ Troy Ounce: 1/12 of a pound ➢ Carat: weight of a carob seed The Cubit The cubit is the measure from your elbow to the tip of your middle finger when your arm is extended. The cubit was the measurement used by the Egyptians to build the pyramids. The Palm The palm is the width of your four fingers when they are placed together. The Fathom The fathom is the measure from fingertip to fingertip when your arms are stretched sideways as far as they will go. The fathom was used by sailors to measure the depth of water so that boats would not run aground. The Hand-span The hand-span is the measure from the tip of your pinky to the tip of your thumb when your hand is stretched out. Hand-span was used to measure the height of horses. People still describe horses as being so many hands high. The Pace The pace is the measure of distance from one step to another. -
Converting Waste Oil Palm Trees Into a Resource R O G R a M M E P N V I R O N M E N T E
w w w . u n ep. o r g United Nations Environment Programme P.O. Box 30552 Nairobi, 00100 Kenya Tel: (254 20) 7621234 Fax: (254 20) 7623927 E-mail: [email protected] web: www.unep.org CONVERTING WASTE OIL PALM TREES INTO A ESOURCE R ROGRAMME P NVIRONMENT E ATIONS N NITED U Copyright © United Nations Environment Programme, 2012 This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part and in any form for educa- tional or non-profit purposes without special permission from the copyright holder, provided acknowledgement of the source is made. UNEP would appreciate receiv- ing a copy of any publication that uses this publication as a source. No use of this publication may be made for resale or for any other commercial purpose whatsoever without prior permission in writing from the United Nations Environment Programme. Disclaimer The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the United Na- tions Environment Programme concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning delimitation of its frontiers or boundar- ies. Moreover, the views expressed do not necessarily represent the decision or the stated policy of the United Nations Environment Programme, nor does citing of trade names or commercial processes constitute endorsement. Acknowledgement This document was developed by a team led by Dr. Wan Asma Ibrahim Head of Bioen- ergy Programme, Forest Products Division, Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) under the overall guidance and supervision of Surya Prakash Chandak, Senior Pro- gramme Officer, International Environmental Technology Centre, Division of Technol- ogy, Industry & Economics, United Nations Environment Programme. -
Metric Doodle Notes
METRICS Cornell Doodle Notes Sampler TEACHER NOTES These Cornell Doodle Notes combine two effective note-taking strategies and can be used to introduce or review the metric system. The notes are organized by an Essential Question at the top, Topic Questions along the left column, details/pictures in the right column, and a Sum It Up page at the end for students to practice their skills. They begin with a section that shows why the Imperial system is quite silly (especially for science!). Then, they present that 10 is the ‘magic number’ of the Metric system, and proceed to explain the S.I. Units of mass, length, fluid volume, and time, the prefixes, a mnemonic device to remember the prefixes, and then to explain how to convert between metric units. Cornell Notes are a note-taking strategy in which topic questions are written in a narrow left-hand column and definitions, explanations, and diagrams are filled in in the right-hand column. At the bottom of Cornell Notes, there is typically a section included for reflection on the lesson’s main points. See the example to the right. Doodle Notes (or Sketch Notes) are another note- taking strategy for which pictures and graphics activate the visual pathways of the brain, which helps with retention of information when compared to standard note-taking. Your visual learners will really benefit from seeing and coloring in the pictures aside the main points of the notes! My architect husband drew the graphics for these notes. We hope your students like them! Doodle Notes is a registered trademark used with permission. -
SCIENTIFIC MEASUREMENTS © 2019, 2004, 1990 by David A
SCIENTIFIC MEASUREMENTS © 2019, 2004, 1990 by David A. Katz. All rights reserved. A BRIEF HISTORY OF MEASUREMENT Measurement was among one of the first intellectual achievements of early humans. People learned to measure centuries before they learned how to write and it was through measurement that people learned to count. People of the Peking and Neanderthal periods had implements constructed from materials individually determined to be the right length or weight for a particular purpose. A tool that worked well became the model and standard for another. (See Figure 1) To measure distance, they used their fingers, hands, arms, legs, etc... Measurement of weights were based on use of certain containers or what a person or beast could haul. Each unit was separate and unrelated since their ability to count was not developed. Figure 1. A stone ax and stones cut to the same size by comparison Since humans have ten fingers, we learned to count measurements from the Hittite by tens, and ways were soon found to relate units to Museum in Cappadocia, Turkey. each other. Some of the most well known of the early units of measurement were: inch - the width of the thumb. digit - the width of the middle finger (about 3/4 inch) palm - the width of four fingers (about 3 inches) span - the distance covered by the spread hand (about 9 inches) foot - the length of the foot. Later expressed as the length of 36 -barleycorns taken from the middle of the ear (about 12 inches). cubit - distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger (about 18 inches). -
Imperial Units
Imperial units From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the post-1824 measures used in the British Empire and countries in the British sphere of influence. For the units used in England before 1824, see English units. For the system of weight, see Avoirdupois. For United States customary units, see Customary units . Imperial units or the imperial system is a system of units, first defined in the British Weights and Measures Act of 1824, later refined (until 1959) and reduced. The system came into official use across the British Empire. By the late 20th century most nations of the former empire had officially adopted the metric system as their main system of measurement. The former Weights and Measures office in Seven Sisters, London. Contents [hide] • 1 Relation to other systems • 2 Units ○ 2.1 Length ○ 2.2 Area ○ 2.3 Volume 2.3.1 British apothecaries ' volume measures ○ 2.4 Mass • 3 Current use of imperial units ○ 3.1 United Kingdom ○ 3.2 Canada ○ 3.3 Australia ○ 3.4 Republic of Ireland ○ 3.5 Other countries • 4 See also • 5 References • 6 External links [edit] Relation to other systems The imperial system is one of many systems of English or foot-pound-second units, so named because of the base units of length, mass and time. Although most of the units are defined in more than one system, some subsidiary units were used to a much greater extent, or for different purposes, in one area rather than the other. The distinctions between these systems are often not drawn precisely. -
English Customary Weights and Measures
English Customary Weights and Measures Distance In all traditional measuring systems, short distance units are based on the dimensions of the human body. The inch represents the width of a thumb; in fact, in many languages, the word for "inch" is also the word for "thumb." The foot (12 inches) was originally the length of a human foot, although it has evolved to be longer than most people's feet. The yard (3 feet) seems to have gotten its start in England as the name of a 3-foot measuring stick, but it is also understood to be the distance from the tip of the nose to the end of the middle finger of the outstretched hand. Finally, if you stretch your arms out to the sides as far as possible, your total "arm span," from one fingertip to the other, is a fathom (6 feet). Historically, there are many other "natural units" of the same kind, including the digit (the width of a finger, 0.75 inch), the nail (length of the last two joints of the middle finger, 3 digits or 2.25 inches), the palm (width of the palm, 3 inches), the hand (4 inches), the shaftment (width of the hand and outstretched thumb, 2 palms or 6 inches), the span (width of the outstretched hand, from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger, 3 palms or 9 inches), and the cubit (length of the forearm, 18 inches). In Anglo-Saxon England (before the Norman conquest of 1066), short distances seem to have been measured in several ways. -
Burgage Plot Patterns and Dimensions in Four Scottish Burghs
Proc Soc Antiq Scot 138 (2008),BURGAGE 223–238 PLOT PATTERNS AND DIMENSIONS IN FOUR SCOTTISH BURGHS | 223 Burgage plot patterns and dimensions in four Scottish burghs Robin Tait* ABSTRACT A comparison is reported of cartographic studies that have been made of the burgage plots in Edinburgh, Canongate, St Andrews and Perth. The results confirm and extend those of earlier studies of St Andrews and Perth. In particular, the presence of plots differing in width by quarter-widths is confirmed. The earlier reports of some plots not complying with this scheme are discussed, and it is demonstrated that the plot widths in the four burghs all do in fact conform. It is suggested that the plots were set out to these varying widths rather than the pattern resulting from later subdivision and amalgamation of plots of uniform width. Possible measurement units which may have been used in setting out the plots are discussed. A systematic pattern of the closes used to access the backlands is reported and it is suggested that a degree of central control is likely to have been exercised over their positioning. INTRODUCTION crops and for small scale manufacturing and other purposes. In later years, the backlands The initial major stimulus to found and develop were increasingly built over, the new buildings Scottish burghs came from David I (1124–53) normally conforming to established plot and a number of burghs were granted their boundaries (Coleman 2004: 293–6). For Royal Charter in the first half of the 12th century centuries, the integrity of the plot boundaries (MacQueen & Windram 1988: 208–9; Lynch, was maintained under the supervision of a burgh Spearman & Stell 1988: 3; Ewan 1990: 1). -
History of Measurement
BUILDING INDUSTRY TECHNOLOGY ACADEMY: YEAR ONE CURRICULUM Short History of Measurement Directions: Working with a partner read the following statements concerning the history of our modern measurement terms. Clues to solving each statement are contained within each statement and the measurement vocabulary can be found in the Word Bank below. yard inch cubit kerosene acre hand foot metric system tobacco 1. This measurement of approximately 4 inches is still used to calculate how tall a horse is. It is the ______________________________. 2. Tired of relying on the length of the previous king’s girdles in determining the length of this unit of measurement, Henry the First decreed: “Henceforth, the shall be the distance from the tip of my nose to the tip of my thumb.” 3. The most common unit of measurement in the United States, the Romans referred to it as “one- twelfth of a foot.” It roughly equals the width of a person’s thumb, but since 1959, the has officially equaled 2.54 Dcentimeters. 4. In 1812, Napoleon noted that the French people were still clinging to traditional units of measurement; even though the was officially adopted by the French government in 1795. This system of Dmeasurement originally derived its name from the Greek word “metron”, meaning “measure”. Today it is also known by the initials SI, or System International, and was legalized in the United States in 1866. 5. The is one of the earliest known units of measurement. It was the standard unit of measurement for thousands of years in many civilizations, though it has widely gone out of popular use today.