Aeronautical Academy of the Philippines (AAP) Inc

Baras, Canaman, Camarines Sur

Name: Alissah Joie R. Sabio Subject: Physics for Engineers

Aileen L. Villamer
Course: BSAE 1 Instructor: Engr.Wenifreda N. Libiran

THE HISTORY OF MEASUREMENTS

The earliest recorded systems of weights and measures originate in the 3rd or 4th millennium
BC. Even the very earliest civilizations needed measurement for purposes of agriculture,
construction and trade. The length, quantity, or size of something being measured is referred to
as measurement, generally speaking. A universal measurement system was not thought of long
ago. That is, until the 18th century, when measurement started to form a coherent system.
Before this time, nations like France had measurement systems for almost every occupation.
There were well over 700 measurements in France alone in 1795.

Numerous measurement units have names that were taken from human morphology. For
instance, the foot, hand, pace, etc. Nevertheless, there was no standardization of these units of
measurement. A single, globally accepted system of measurement was desperately needed as
trade and industry grew throughout the world. In order for trade to prosper, a unified system was
required to establish balance among the various industries and, ultimately, the world.

Length

If there were any measurement that has proven to be the most useful to humanity, it would be
length. Examples of length include the inch, the foot, the yard, and the mile. Knowing how to
measure length was quite useful for surveying land for property right purposes. Knowing the
length of the land gave the precise units needed to price accordingly.

To maintain a single idea of how long the measurement should be, bars or rods were kept in
central public places. This measuring tool would be considered the standard and thus
distributed to the community. One such example of this happening was in Mesopotamia and
Egypt where rods were kept in temples. The dimensions, called the cubit, were typically taken
from the king’s physical dimensions.

Cubit

The ‘Cubit’ was the first recorded standard linear

measurement. Defined by the distance from the tip of
the foreigner to the middle of the elbow. Cubit was used
by the Egyptians for building pyramids (2750 B.C.) Mean
error in length of the sides of Khufu Pyramid at Gizeh in
Egypt was 1.5mm.
Hand

The Cubit was subdivided into several other measurements. One

hand is measured with the fingers closed and from the end of the
thumb to the other end of the palm.

Foot

History believes that the foot was given its name from the human
body part. The length of a human foot was measured from the heel
to the tip of the big toe. From Egyptians through the Greeks and
Romans to present day the length of one foot has increased
considerably. This is caused by the use of the foot in building and
as time developed the use of measuring with boots on feet has
increased the size of one foot. 1 Foot = 12 inches = 304.8mm

Weight

Weight isn’t quite as simple to measure as length is. Human ingenuity has overcome the
complexities of this particular measurement. It turns out that wheat, grains of wheat to be
more exact, have a standardized size. Essentially, weight can be measured regarding
grains of wheat. This is a method that is still used by jewelers. Just as it is done with
length, lumps of metal can be kept in a public building that represents the standard
weight of a given amount of grain.

Volume

Among all of the units of measurement, volume is the most useful to those who deal with
money such as merchants and tax collectors. Though calculating volume is the most
helpful to those in the professions mentioned above, it is also one of the most difficult to
measure. Attempts have been made to provide standard estimations of measurement
such as crafting same sized pots, baskets, and sacks. Still, it’s quite difficult to measure
the exact volume of a jar even if it appears to resemble the exact dimensions of other
pottery physically. Ultimately weight is still the more reliable measurement when
accuracy is needed.

Time
Time can be considered an abstract measurement. You can’t see it, and it can only be
perceived through specialized means (such as a sundial). In today’s world, the concept
of time dictates when we eat, when we sleep, when we work, and even certain activities
such as personal relations with a loved one. For many centuries, time has been thought
of in imprecise term.

Throughout most of human history, we have perceived time though days and weeks. The
creation of the calendar even makes it possible to chart out the length of time in a year.
Back before modern technology individuals were able to distinguish the time of day by
tracking the sun through the sky. For example, when the sun rose it was morning; at its
apex in the sky it was afternoon and when the sun set it was night. Back during that time,
it was impossible to track hours, minutes and seconds thus those particular
measurements were irrelevant.

Sundial

As mentioned before the easiest way to track time is to

record the movement of the sun across the sky. This is
most easily done by measuring the shadow cast by a
vertical stick. This tool is called the sundial. Sundials make
it possible to make elaborate calculations. Early examples
of the sundial can be tracked to Egypt around 800 BC. The
main shortfall of the sundial is that it could never give a
truly accurate reading of the time of day because the sun’s
journey across the sky can shorten or lengthen with the
change of the seasons.

Water Clock

Known as the clepsydra to the Greeks, the water clock

attempts to measure time by tracking the amount of water that
drips into a basin or tank. The water clocks greatest flaw is
that it relies on water as its tool for measurement. For
accurate time telling, water has to be stable, which implies
that the water has to be in a controlled environment.
Experiments have shown that water can never be 100%
stable. This means that for the sake of measuring time, the
water clock was never truly accurate. However, the water
clock was utilized by many civilizations for quite a bit of time.
These cultures include 1400 BC Egypt, Rome, Arab, Greece,
China, and Europe (16th century). Despite its use, the water
clock was more regarded as a toy than a reliable tool to tell
time.

Hourglass
 The hourglass uses the same principle as the water clock, but instead
of water, it utilizes sand. The hourglass has been around for much
longer than the water clock. One notable use of the hourglass was by
the 18th-century pulpits in Britain (to measure the length of sermons).

Definitions of SI Base Units

Symbol: m
Meter – Unit of Length
The meter is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the
speed of light in vacuum c to be 299,792,458 when expressed in
the unit m s−1, where the second is defined in terms of ∆νCs.

Symbol: kg
Kilogram – Unit of Mass
The kilogram is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the
Planck constant h to be 6.62607015 ×10−34 when expressed in the
unit J s, which is equal to kg m2 s−1, where the meter and the
second are defined in terms of c and ∆νCs.
Symbol: A
Ampere – Unit of
Electric Current The ampere is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the
elementary charge e to be 1.602176634 × 10−19 when expressed
in the unit C, which is equal to A s, where the second is defined in
terms of ∆νCs.
Symbol: K
Kelvin – Unit of
Thermodynamic The kelvin is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the
Temperature Boltzmann constant k to be 1.380 649 ×10−23 when expressed in
the unit J K−1, which is equal to kg m2 s−2 K−1, where the
kilogram, meter and second are defined in terms of h, c and ∆νCs
Symbol: mol
Mole – Unit of Amount
of Substance One mole contains exactly 6.02214076 × 1023 elementary entities.
This number is the fixed numerical value of the Avogadro constant,
NA, when expressed in the unit mol−1 and is called the Avogadro
number. The amount of substance, symbol n, of a system is a
measure of the number of specified elementary entities. An
elementary entity may be an atom, a molecule, an ion, an electron,
any other particle or specified group of particles.
Symbol: cd
Candela – Unit of
Luminous Intensity The candela is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the
luminous efficacy of monochromatic radiation of frequency 540 ×
1012 Hz, Kcd, to be 683 when expressed in the unit lm W−1, which
is equal to cd sr W−1, or cd sr kg−1 m−2 s3, where the kilogram,
meter and second are defined in terms of h, c and ∆νCs.