Richard and all, I believe that one of the original uses was archaeology. When an archaeologist would find an artifact he wanted to take pictures from all sides before digging out. So let's say it was a pot in a grave, he would shot the north/south/east/west sides of the pot, turning the cube every time so in later studies in a lab they would be able to recreate the tomb and the exact position of each object. So it was not only for size but also for exact angle/position of each artifact by itself and also in relation to all the others.
And I agree that a scale cube should show clearly what the scale is. Less than honest sellers (on Ebay, for instance!) could be tempted to use one for the other. Another reason why I don't believe we should use any coin or key, or....etc. Yes, we in the US know that a dime is 18 mm across, but we should not expect someone on the other side of the globe to know that. Just my 2mm. Anne M. Black _http://www.impactika.com/_ (http://www.impactika.com/) [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) Vice-President, I.M.C.A. Inc. _http://www.imca.cc/_ (http://www.imca.cc/) In a message dated 3/15/2010 2:32:37 AM Mountain Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: Shawn, Matt, If I'm not mistaken, the scale cube was invented specifically for the lunar samples brought back by the Apollo missions. Obviously, the idea behind using a scale cube is just that, to show the scale of the object in the photograph. I agree that for good scientific reasons, a scale cube in some metric measurement makes the most sense. A cubic centimeter is most common, but why not a cubic decimeter or a cubic meter, if those are appropriately sized for the object? I have no problem with any sized scale cube as long as the dimension is clearly marked and visible in the photograph. 1-cm, 1 inch, no matter. There is no "standard" so to speak. The key is to use something of the appropriate scale for the object being photographed... ______________________________________________ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list [email protected] http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
