Body measurements Info

Using your body to estimate length your hand. Hold out your arm and take a tape measure or ruler. Model how to measure have everyone sit down facing the board. The length of a foot the width of a finger and the distance of a step were all accepted measurements. The exact length varied according to whose arm was being used and could be from 18 to 22 inches. A yard was originally the length of a mans belt or girdle as it was called.

Now that the key vocabulary has been reviewed we can move onto the fun part of the lesson measuring parts of the body. From nose to finger tip. It probably goes without saying that the unit foot was based on the length of a mans foot. Quinaria the cross sectional area of a pipe created from a flat sheet of lead 5 digits wide stremma the amount of land a person can plow in a day. Hand hand fingers thumb. An average foot is about 12 inches long.

The present stone is 14 pounds 635 kg but an earlier unit appears to have been 16 pounds 725 kg. Examples include body parts grain seeds or livestock body parts feet were the most common just becasue the first thing that people are measuring is ground distances and feet are convenient. It probably goes without saying that the unit foot was based on the length of a mans foot. At first an inch was the width of a mans thumb. Digit in latin digitus could mean either finger or toe. Measuring parts of the body.

In ancient times the body ruled when it came to measuring. The same is true of digit in modern english. As part of this activity students visit the powerplay exhibit at the childrens museum of houston. A cubit was a measurement based on the forearm from elbow to fingertip. First nothing in nature is consistent enough for precision measurement they get used early then abandoned the name sticks around the unt they no longer use the actual thing. Eight body based units of measurement cubit.

Cubit from latin cubitum the elbow. Your forearm from elbow to fingertip. Your forearm is about 15 feet 46 centimeters. Here are a few more. The other units were multiples of 2 8 and 160 times the stone or 28 112 and 2240 pounds 127 kg 508 kg 1016 kg respectively. The distance between your nose.

The width of your palm is about 4 inches 10 centimeters. Students practice estimating and measuring in metric units and investigate the concepts of ratio and proportion as they relate to features of the human body. Attempt to measure your arm but. Today only the stone continues in customary use for measuring personal body weight. The cubit was just one of numerous units of measurement based on the typical size of body parts. Stretch out the fingers of your hand.

This is the distance from a mans elbow to the tip of his middle finger which would be about 18 inches for the.