Hey there, during the last three days, my class has been working on a project all about forces and motion. Do you know what those two words mean? Well, if not then you are missing off on a big part, if you are more interested in learning about forces and motion you might consider looking through my last post just to get a basic idea of what forces and motion is about and then you can look it up. Anyways, back to my point of this post, at the begging of the first class we worked on this project, we had to read 2 pages talking about English measurements and why they were invented. Some of thee measurements were:
Pace-the measurement of your outstretched legs which is about 1 meter
Fathom- the measurement of your arms wide outstretched which is about 180cm
Span- the measurement from your thumb to the end of your pinkie, usually about 20cm
English Yard- the measurement from your nose to the tip of your index, about 90cm
Fingernail- the measurement from one side of your fingernail to the other side, about 1cm
Palm- your palm, usually about 8cm
Egyptian cubit- measurement from your elbow to the middle finger, usually about 40cm
Every time we start a new project, we have a guiding question and for this unit it was:
What is the importance of having an International measuring system? How accurate are old measurements using body parts?
My hypothesis when we first started was:
I think having an International system of measuring, so practically one that everyone uses is the best thing because if you use with different measurements, it might be hard to compare or explain to other people using a different measurement.Sharing the same measurement is just as important as having a communicative language that everyone understands, because without understanding everything every person has to say, we are just proving to ourselves that we aren't successful and that we can't share ideas because others won't understand. But on the other hand, just the same way Americans and English people use feet, and Europeans usually use centimeters and meter etc. people have figured out how to compare those measurements, so different places can have different measurements but we have to be able to compare them to our measurements so we gain knowledge. To answer the second question, the old measurements might be accurate but since it includes body parts, different people are different sizes and lengths which might cause a difference in the outcome. Also, for example the pace, if a person is able to do a split, then their pace would be very long and totally different from the one of others.
Materials:
Practically, me and my partner Irina, did everything that is written on the top, and we created the graph. :
Just by looking at the graph, I can compare some of our answers and the actual measurements of the objects. The closest average we got was the one for crayon box which we got exact and the space book followed by the desk were also very close. Observing when we were measuring the hallway, we got a very different answer than the actual and that is because my partner and I did not take normal steps, but to have a bit more fun we did "splits". Just looking at the measurements, and at the average, I can say that measuring with paces is not as accurate because different people might want to experiment and not have the same measurement as the others.
Conclusion:
After all, maybe even if you didn't do any lab or just looked at the graph, you could say that some of the English Measurements are somewhere close to precise, but the others are totally off. I think the most precise measurement is the fingernail because it measures about 1cm and at least one of your fingers on your hand measures up to 1cm. The pace, in my opinion is the worse measurement to use because different people can have different steps and some people might decide to do a split which would definitively ruin the whole outcome. So why exactly is it important to have an international measuring system? I think it is important to have an international system so that different communities from all over the world can communicate and compare measurements without having to go through a hard process which takes up your time. The easiest is to just get measuring sticks and rulers for every country, and make sure all sticks are the same so that everyone is talking about the same thing. Back to the guiding question,
What is the importance of having an International measuring system? How accurate are old measurements using body parts?
Old measuring body parts aren't always that accurate and can be different depending on different people. My hypothesis was correct because it explains how International systems are easier and all about comparing which is pretty much what I was just talking about. The easiest object to measure was probably the crayon box we measured it correctly and it was the same all the time so it was easy to find an average. My favorite thing to measure thought was the board because my partner and I used this method to measure called the yard which practically from your nose to your index, and we started at the end of the border, and continuously touched our fingers with the other persons nose which made us laugh so I call it the most fun one.
In conclusion, I can say that how the measuring systems work right now they are the easiest to understand and all over the world they are being able to communicate with different outcomes.
Further Inquiry :
For this specific lab, I don't have any further questions because I was already familiar with everything and this was a good way to refresh my mind. I have also learned all different types of English measurements and how much they measure. If I was ever to do this lab again, I would make sure that for the pace, we would do the same steps as other people so our answer wouldn't be so much off. Actually, now that I think about it, I do have one question:
If there is a now-a-days International Measuring System, and everyone uses all over the world, why doesn't America use it at well? Why don't they use centimes but feet? That is the only thing I can not understand. But after all, every thing else was clear and fun to do :D
Pace-the measurement of your outstretched legs which is about 1 meter
Fathom- the measurement of your arms wide outstretched which is about 180cm
Span- the measurement from your thumb to the end of your pinkie, usually about 20cm
English Yard- the measurement from your nose to the tip of your index, about 90cm
Fingernail- the measurement from one side of your fingernail to the other side, about 1cm
Palm- your palm, usually about 8cm
Egyptian cubit- measurement from your elbow to the middle finger, usually about 40cm
Every time we start a new project, we have a guiding question and for this unit it was:
What is the importance of having an International measuring system? How accurate are old measurements using body parts?
My hypothesis when we first started was:
I think having an International system of measuring, so practically one that everyone uses is the best thing because if you use with different measurements, it might be hard to compare or explain to other people using a different measurement.Sharing the same measurement is just as important as having a communicative language that everyone understands, because without understanding everything every person has to say, we are just proving to ourselves that we aren't successful and that we can't share ideas because others won't understand. But on the other hand, just the same way Americans and English people use feet, and Europeans usually use centimeters and meter etc. people have figured out how to compare those measurements, so different places can have different measurements but we have to be able to compare them to our measurements so we gain knowledge. To answer the second question, the old measurements might be accurate but since it includes body parts, different people are different sizes and lengths which might cause a difference in the outcome. Also, for example the pace, if a person is able to do a split, then their pace would be very long and totally different from the one of others.
Materials:
· Partner
· Objects in the classroom (whiteboard, desk, hallway, SPACE book, Peep, Crayon box)
· List of ways to measure:
Pace:
Egyptian cubit
Fathom
Palm
Hand including thumb
Span
English yard
Foot
Fingernail
· Meter stick or measuring tape
· Calculator
Procedure:1. Make a data table in your notebook with 7 columns and 7 rows.
2. Choose one of the six objects or distances you will measure.
3. Determine what form of measurement you will make with the first object. (For example: Length of the 6th grade hallway with paces, book with palm or hand, fingernail for crayon box, etc…)
4. Measure it with the determined form of measurement 3 times, and then find the average.
5. Measure it with the meter stick/or measuring tape and find the actual measurement. (IMPORTANT!!!!! BE SURE THAT THE UNITS OF MEASUREMENT STAY THE SAME, either inches or centimeters or yards or feet or meters and the average needs to be in the same units)
6. Repeat the same for each of the five objects that are left and measure it with a different type of measurement, 3 times, find the average and again the actual measurement.
7. Compare class data results. Find the average of these results.
Record and Analyze:Practically, me and my partner Irina, did everything that is written on the top, and we created the graph. :
Just by looking at the graph, I can compare some of our answers and the actual measurements of the objects. The closest average we got was the one for crayon box which we got exact and the space book followed by the desk were also very close. Observing when we were measuring the hallway, we got a very different answer than the actual and that is because my partner and I did not take normal steps, but to have a bit more fun we did "splits". Just looking at the measurements, and at the average, I can say that measuring with paces is not as accurate because different people might want to experiment and not have the same measurement as the others.
Conclusion:
After all, maybe even if you didn't do any lab or just looked at the graph, you could say that some of the English Measurements are somewhere close to precise, but the others are totally off. I think the most precise measurement is the fingernail because it measures about 1cm and at least one of your fingers on your hand measures up to 1cm. The pace, in my opinion is the worse measurement to use because different people can have different steps and some people might decide to do a split which would definitively ruin the whole outcome. So why exactly is it important to have an international measuring system? I think it is important to have an international system so that different communities from all over the world can communicate and compare measurements without having to go through a hard process which takes up your time. The easiest is to just get measuring sticks and rulers for every country, and make sure all sticks are the same so that everyone is talking about the same thing. Back to the guiding question,
What is the importance of having an International measuring system? How accurate are old measurements using body parts?
Old measuring body parts aren't always that accurate and can be different depending on different people. My hypothesis was correct because it explains how International systems are easier and all about comparing which is pretty much what I was just talking about. The easiest object to measure was probably the crayon box we measured it correctly and it was the same all the time so it was easy to find an average. My favorite thing to measure thought was the board because my partner and I used this method to measure called the yard which practically from your nose to your index, and we started at the end of the border, and continuously touched our fingers with the other persons nose which made us laugh so I call it the most fun one.
In conclusion, I can say that how the measuring systems work right now they are the easiest to understand and all over the world they are being able to communicate with different outcomes.
Further Inquiry :
For this specific lab, I don't have any further questions because I was already familiar with everything and this was a good way to refresh my mind. I have also learned all different types of English measurements and how much they measure. If I was ever to do this lab again, I would make sure that for the pace, we would do the same steps as other people so our answer wouldn't be so much off. Actually, now that I think about it, I do have one question:
If there is a now-a-days International Measuring System, and everyone uses all over the world, why doesn't America use it at well? Why don't they use centimes but feet? That is the only thing I can not understand. But after all, every thing else was clear and fun to do :D
That's a very good question. So many things in the U.S. are in inches and feet and yards, but scientists around the world use only the International measuring system with cm, meters, mL and L. Excellent data analysis and conclusion and as always a very easy to read blog entry!
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