Units of Scientific Measurement [S. Worthen

Last week, I noted that the first controlled nuclear reaction occurred in a squash court, which implies there was a squash court going spare - or requisitionable for a large, military-funded research project - in 1942. This week, I noted that ENIAC was built in a room the size of a squash court (but presumably not an actual ex-squash court). Suddenly wondering if large science projects of the twentieth century were all measured in terms of squash courts, I superficially did a web search for answers.

Describing the International Space Station:
"The largest single ISS module—the centerpiece of Japan’s contribution to the station—is scheduled to be launched into space in October 2008. The pressurized volume inside this metal-walled module will be about 150 cubic meters, or about half the size of a squash court."

Describing air quality tests:
"‘When using traditional methods, measurement of diesel particle levels requires a test cell the size of a squash court, crammed with over a million dollars worth of equipment, operated by two or three highly skilled staff, but only producing vehicle test results every two to three hours.’"

On remote controls:
"The world’s largest TV remote controller is owned by Japanese businessman Henri Osaka. Weighing in at over 55lb, the unit is roughly half the size of a squash court. Ironically enough, the TV it controls is just a regular 30” set!"

Is it politics, or is it a scientifically-allocated quantity of space?
"The World Bank and the IMF have disagreed with the city- state's ban on outdoor assemblies and its objection to 27 of the more than 700 civil society representatives accredited by the event organizers. A 538-square-foot area, about the size of a squash court, has been set aside at a corner of the downtown convention center venue for the civil society groups to protest."

On a cutting-edge way to clear mines:
""We train them to detect concentrations of explosives lower than those they experience in a real minefield. That way we can guarantee a rat will never walk over a mine without indicating its presence," Mr Weetjens said. On their first assignment in Mozambique the rats swept an area the size of a squash court in 30 minutes. As yet no mine has been missed."

I thought I had a conclusive case, but it turns out that tennis courts are also used as a scientific measurement. Satellites and lumps of gold are both measured in terms of tennis courts. Alveoli are special, as they can be measured in both tennis courts AND in badminton courts. Only oceanographers and engineers use volleyball courts, however.

And as for the future of scientific measurement, that lies in handball courts. (PDF)

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Of course Fermi's first nuclear reactor was built in a squash court...

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Which was my starting point for this whole thing! Perhaps everyone else was merely modeling their work on Fermi's.

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Doh! I suppose that teaches me to scan read when I'm heading for bed...

I cleverly missed out on nearly all of the key words which would have cued in a skimmer in my first sentence.

Squash courts are the standard unit of area. Length and height are measured in double-decker buses. Volume is measured in Olympic size swimming pools.

I'm sure I remember New Scientist running a series of pieces in its Feedback column on this very subject.

The standard unit of relatively small area, or possibly a specifically scientific one. Larger areas are normally measured in multiples of Wales.

There's an intermediate unit as well: the football pitch.

Although football pitches raise the question of what kind of football pitch? There are so many. The measurement unit of "football pitch", while widespread, is as variable as a minute, as in the phrase "I'll be just a minute." Both are of different size (or duration) depending on what country one is in at the time.

Are there really that many? I'd have expected there to be two - one for soccer and one for American football. I've never heard anyone measuring anything in terms of five-a-side pitches.

In my experience, the length of 'just a minute' (the Radio 4 programme excepted) depends entirely on the speaker. 'I'll only be a sec' is even worse.

Actually I would have thought that the squash court was a unit of volume, even if some of owlfish's examples just referred to the flat surface on the bottom. The squash court is the larger unit. The smaller unit of volume is the breadbox.

Yes, the squash court is definitely a unit of volume. Larger volumes use olympic-size swimming pools, smaller ones either breadboxes or, if the object in question is round, balls. The volleyball, for example, is used to measure the eyes of squid. (I said volleyball courts were used by oceanographers!)

New Scientist, Feedback section, May 27, 2006.

The superjumbo and the ping-pong balls

THIS week's "unusual units of measurement" award goes to Martin Symington for his 13 May story in The Times , London, about the new Airbus superjumbo. Not content with just peppering his whole piece with unusual units, he manages to include the following in his summary at the end, which Adam Lawrence has kindly copied to us:

"Fully laden, the Airbus A380 holds 310,000 litres of fuel, enough to fill 21 road tankers...The aircraft's interior volume is 1570 cubic metres, the equivalent of 44 million ping-pong balls...Removing all the seats from both decks would provide enough space for 10 squash courts...A freighter version, the A380F, will carry 150 tonnes of cargo - about the same as a herd of 57 fully grown Asian elephants...The temperature in the engines reaches 2800 °C, half that of the sun's surface...The take-off thrust is the equivalent of about 2500 family cars."

Could it be that Symington is striving to tell us that the plane is quite large and powerful?

There are six other entries in their "unusual units of measurement" series, from 2004 to October 28, 2006, when this tidbit was included in the Feedback section.

The same weight as...er...

THERE'S something about unusual units of measurements that brings out the fussy precision in people. Take the piece we ran on 29 April exposing the amount of dog faeces deposited in the New Forest in the UK each year - "the same weight as 240 double-decker buses". This comparison does at least give a fairly good impression of the quantities involved, but unfortunately the same cannot be said about the quote in The Hastings Observer that Jackie Field has forwarded to us. It comes from the manager of a crane that caused alarm among council safety officials when it was placed on the seaside resort's pier overnight in preparation for repair work the following day: "'The crane weighs almost 4 tonnes,' he said. 'The same weight as lots of people.'

This demonstrates that double-decker buses are used to measure weight as well as length and height.

Thanks you for the reference!

Double-decker buses are a versatile form of measurement! They can also deal with volume. " "About half of the tyres disposed of in Wales each year -- enough to fill 444 double-decker buses -- just disappear" (Environment Agency, April 2003)." (via the New Scientist, April 19, 2004)

And buses seem to be well on their way to integration with the SI measurement system, as I have sighted both a Megabus and a Microbus.

Hmm... I always thought the scientists had a reference manual or book of recommended measurements that a layperson might understand for those inevitable times when the people footing the bills needed some reassurance. Sort of like Strunk's "Elements of Style".

If there isn't one, there should be.

I recall an In the Neighbourhood cartoon showing a tv weatherman saying "...and hail the size of individually-sized non-dairy creamers." Below, the caption: "Weren't you getting tired of hearing about golf-ball-sized hail?"

You could get money for that if you wrote it as a light piece for a serious paper (New Scientist?). Seriously, do it!

I'll see if

pfy was right about there already having been one on the subject first. Thank you for the suggestion!

ah, serves me right for commenting without reading the earlier comments. Still, I was right on the money, huh? And who knows, you may find that the earlier articles were not so similar and that there may be other outlets for your stuff.

LOL.

Interesting and amusing.

Wait -- alveoli, as in the things in one's lungs?

Yes, those kinds of alveoli. Unintuitive, isn't it?

Yep -- and really, one does wonder. Because, well, AFAIK, all my alveoli are pretty safely ensconced inside my body. And I'm not seeing how, even if one were to do really nasty vivisectionist-type things, a sports court of any type would be an appropriate unit measurement. I mean, do they expand when freed from the pulmonary system? Are human bodies some kind of magical worlds that are bigger on the inside than the outside?

I've always equated [the total surface area] of alveoli with a parachute, myself.

So, is that the total measurement if they were all stretched into two dimensions?

Yup -- total surface area. I'm giving a scuba diving lecture tonight on this topic, and the notes for that say "tennis court"

I think the oddest unit of measurement was one of my university lecturers illustrating the search-space of different problems via the use of sugar-cubes.

Further note: Heat is measured in conventional ovens.

"The steel supporting the overpass turned pliable after the gasoline-fed fire below reached temperatures up to 2,000 degrees (1,093 Celsius) — more than four times as hot as the hottest conventional home oven."

This is so cool! And strange, but cool nonetheless!

hello i was just reading your article and i was wondering if you know anything about how volleyball connects to the kinetic and potential energy and speed and gravity. im doing a science project and i would love to hear your feedback!

S. Worthen | Weblog

Units of Scientific Measurement

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