You must have enormous hands, Pat. I'm 183 cm tall, normally proportioned, with fair-sized hands, yet my thumb nail's thickness is closer to 0.5 mm. As for the other dimensions:
Thumbnail width = 17 mm Hand width across top knuckles = 85 mm Hand span = 205 mm (even if my joints had the flexibility they had in my youth, I still couldn't manage 250 mm) My little finger nail and my personal cubit are about the same as yours. Bill Potts, CMS Roseville, CA http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] >-----Original Message----- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Behalf Of Pat Naughtin >Sent: Monday, November 03, 2003 00:23 >To: U.S. Metric Association >Subject: [USMA:27409] Re: Presentation Outline > > >Dear Matthew, > >Euric and John offer good ideas. I will try to elaborate on them by making >them more personal to your participants. > >Take several metre sticks. Stick them to the walls and or doors of >the room.. > >Put two metre sticks on a wall so that your audience can all find their >height (in metres to the nearest 0.05 say 1.65 metres or 1.70 metres is >best). If you try to do this in millimetres � or even centimetres >� you will >strike all of the problems associated with measurement accuracy. > >Use the metre sticks and other, metric only, rulers to have your audience >measure (the values are mine to give you a guide): > >Thumbnail thickness 1 millimetre >Little finger nail width 10 millimetres >Thumbnail width 20 millimetres >Hand width across knuckles 100 millimetres >Hand span 250 millimetres >Cubit (elbow to tip of long finger) 500 millimetres > >I like to use two cubits by placing my fingertips together, thus making my >elbows 1000 millimetres or 1 metre apart. If your cubit is slightly less >that 500 millimetres then leave an appropriate gap between the ends of you >fingers at the centre of your chest. [My wife's cubit is about 450 >millimetres, so she uses this 'leave-a-gap' trick when she is measuring the >furniture (again) to see where it will move to this time]. > >Take as many bathroom scales as you need that read in kilograms only � do >not use dual scales unless you have to. I have been known to take bathroom >scales to pieces to white-out the pounds on a dual scale. > >Prepare a chart to show how to calculate Body Mass Index (BMI). Provide >calculators for this purpose. > >Have Celsius only thermometers placed in highly visible positions. > >Mark out a ten metre 'pacing line' so that your audience can check how many >of their own paces are ten metres. Also have them measure the length of >their feet, for measuring smaller horizontal lengths. As examples, my feet >with shoes are 330 millimetres long and this means that three feet to me is >quite close to 1 metre. Later, mark out an unknown length (of >about 12 or 13 >metres, and get your audience to guess how long it is by using their own >paces. > >Cut out a square metre from carpet or vinyl off-cuts. Find out how many >people can stand on a square metre? How many people can be stacked on a >square metre? If you can't find carpet or vinyl, then use stout paper. > >Make four square metres from some light material (I use oxy welding rods) � >these four square metres can be tied together to make a cubic metre. >However, this type of construction is not robust enough to fill with people >� you need better construction for this. I can't begin to tell you >the power >of this single cubic metre as a learning aid. After all most people have >never seen a cubic yard either. > >Anyway that should be enough to get you started. The key features are: > >With these steps you are using visual, audio, and kinaesthetic >influences to >allow your audience come to terms with metric measures at their own pace. > >Focus on becoming familiar with the 'new' metric units. >It is not necessary to mention old units at all. >Don't convert any old units to metric units or vice versa, and don't get >involved in discussions about conversions, simply say that your goal is to >provide your audience with metric experiences that will parallel their >knowledge of old units � not to replace them � and not to convert between >them. > >Finally, construct your talk to discuss all of your audiences >newly acquired >experiences with metric measures. By the time you have steered your >participants through the measuring exercises, your talk will be much better >because your know a little about your audience members and how they will >react to your talk. > >Good luck with your efforts. > >Cheers, > >Pat Naughtin LCAMS >Geelong, Australia > >Pat Naughtin is the editor of the free online newsletter, 'Metrication >matters'. You can subscribe by sending an email containing the words >subscribe Metrication matters to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >-- > >on 3/11/03 10:20 AM, Matthew Zotter at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > >> 2003 NOV 02 SUN >> >> I'm just gathering general ideas. I have no invitation to >speak; but when I >> do, I'd like a plan of attack. I know that this forum has plenty of good >> idea. >> >>> Could you let me have some more details about the audience? >> Possible elementary, middle, high school, or college; or >engineering society >> meeting. >> >>> What is the occasion? >> Metric week, invitation, etc. >> >>> Why were you invited? >> N/A >> >>> Were you specifically invited to talk about metrication? >> Let's say "yes" >> If I said "no", how would I weave in metrication >> >>> How many people? >> 5 to 10 >> or >> 20 to 100 >> >>> What is their background? >> Situation dependent >> >>> How much time do you have for preparation? >> Let's say, 30 minutes >> or >> 1 to 2 hours >> >>> Is there space at the venue to do physical things such as pacing fifty >>> metres? >> Maybe >> >> Please share all ideas. Thank you for your time and information. >> >> Sincerely, >> Matthew Zotter >> SC, USA >>
