Are you taller or wider?
- Was an ancient Roman architect right about human proportions?
- Does your 'fingertip to fingertip' width = your height?
- If you measure more than once, do you get the same value?
- How much taller are you after lying down for 15 minutes?
Estimated time: 20 minutes
No experience needed
Equipment required
- square floor space at least your height in width/depth next to a wall
- Three objects (like books) to mark positions on floor
- ruler or tape measure
- paper and pen/pencil to write down results
- calculator to find averages and ratio
Risks
- Make sure other people are aware you are lying on the floor as part of an experiment.
Steps
Watch the video
- Clear a square space on the floor next to a wall that is about your height wide and long.
- Lie down flat with your bare feet flat on the wall and place an object like a book to mark the top of your head on the floor. Use two more objects to mark the distance between your fingertips as far apart as you can get them.
- Stand up and measure the height and width you just marked out.
- Repeat the experiment three more times and find the average and range of each measurement type.
- Calculate the ratio of the two measurements. This is the average height divided by average width.
- Try repeating the measurement after lying on your back on the floor for 15 minutes to see if your spine has shrunk.
Thoughts, tips and information
SI measurement units
- metre (m) for length
Challenge Topics
- Measurement Science, Maths
- By how much do your measurements vary (and why?)
- Does your height change after lying down for 15 minutes? How long do you need to stand up for your spine to shrink?
- With age, the proportions of head size to height, and eye size to skull height change significantly.
- The Vitruvian Man is a drawing made by Leonardo da Vinci in about 1490. It has notes on it from the Roman architect Vitruvius.