Harry Wyeth wrote:
....
> One small problem for us is that a hectare is about 2.5 times as large and
> therefore more difficult to get a feel for, I think. 100 m by 100 m is a
> pretty large bit of ground, especially if it is hilly and covered by trees
> or brush. With practice, one can estimate area in hectares as easily as
> in old-time acres, and I can certainly do it on flat ground because I know
> exactly what 100 m looks like (the length of a track straightaway at the
> high school). I wonder if there is anything else that we all encounter
> that is the size of a hectare, such as (possibly) a typical city block. I
> can't think of one right away.
We have a rather large block in Charleston, most of which is a park
called Marion Square (after Francis Marion the Swamp Fox); this is
Charleston's "town square", I suppose. That large block turns out to be
very close to 4 ha and so that is the local gauge that I provide for
people learning this unit.
In hilly or densly forested country, especially, it might be easier to
eyeball ares and then count them up, if one is visually estimating the
area of a patch of land. One can more easily estimate 10 m by 10 m than
100 m by 100 m sometimes. The are (a) is not accepted for use with the
SI, but 100 a = 1 ha.
Jim
--
Metric Methods(SM) "Don't be late to metricate!"
James R. Frysinger, CAMS http://www.metricmethods.com/
10 Captiva Row e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Charleston, SC 29407 phone/FAX: 843.225.6789
