HISTORY OF WEIGHT

The grain was the earliest unit of mass and is the smallest unit in the apothecary, avoirdupois,
Tower, and troy systems. The early unit was a grain of wheat or barleycorn used to weigh the
precious metals silver and gold. Larger units preserved in stone standards were developed that
were used as both units of mass and of monetary currency. The pound was derived from the
mina used by ancient civilizations. A smaller unit was the shekel, and a larger unit was the
talent. The magnitude of these units varied from place to place. The Babylonians and
Sumerians had a system in which there were 60 shekels in a mina and 60 minas in a talent. The
Roman talent consisted of 100 libra (pound) which were smaller in magnitude than the mina.
The troy pound (~373.2 g) used in England and the United States for monetary purposes, like
the Roman pound, was divided into 12 ounces, but the Roman uncia (ounce) was smaller. The
carat is a unit for measuring gemstones that had its origin in the carob seed, which later was
standardized at 1/144 ounce and then 0.2 gram.
The stone, quarter, hundredweight, and ton were larger units of mass used in Britain. Today
only the stone continues in customary use for measuring personal body weight. The present
stone is 14 pounds (~6.35 kg), but an earlier unit appears to have been 16 pounds (~7.25 kg).
The other units were multiples of 2, 8, and 160 times the stone, or 28, 112, and 2240 pounds
(~12.7 kg, 50.8 kg, 1016 kg), respectively. The hundredweight was approximately equal to two
talents. The ton of 2240 pounds is called the "long ton". The "short ton" is equal to 2000 pounds
(~907 kg). A tonne (t) is equal to 1000 kg. Others define it as the magnitude of the reaction
force exerted on a body by mechanisms that keep it in place: the weight is the quantity that is
measured by, for example, a spring scale.

HISTORY OF LENGTH
The Egyptian cubit, the Indus Valley units of length referred to above and the Mesopotamian
cubit were used in the 3rd millennium BC and are the earliest known units used by ancient
peoples to measure length. The units of length used in ancient India included the dhanus, or
dhanush (bow), the krosa (cry, or cow-call) and the yojana (stage).
The common cubit was the length of the forearm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. It
was divided into the span of the hand or the length between the tip of little finger to the tip of the
thumb (one-half cubit), the palm or width of the hand (one sixth), and the digit or width of the
middle finger (one twenty-fourth). The Royal Cubit, which was a standard cubit enhanced by an
extra palm—thus 7 palms or 28 digits long—was used in constructing buildings and monuments
and in surveying in ancient Egypt. The inch, foot, and yard evolved from these units through a
complicated transformation not yet fully understood. Some believe they evolved from cubic
measures; others believe they were simple proportions or multiples of the cubit. In whichever
case, the Greeks and Romans inherited the foot from the Egyptians. The Roman foot
(~296 mm) was divided into both 12 unciae (inches) (~24.7 mm) and 16 digits (~18.5 mm). The
Romans also introduced the mille passus (1000 paces) or double steps, the pace being equal to
five Roman feet (~1480 mm). The Roman mile of 5000 feet (1480 m) was introduced into
England during the occupation. Queen Elizabeth I (reigned from 1558 to 1603) changed, by
statute, the mile to 5280 feet (~1609 m) or 8 furlongs, a furlong being 40 rod (unit)s (~201 m) of
5.5 yards (~5.03 m) each.
HISTORY OF TIME
The division of the circle into 360 degrees and the day into hours, minutes, and seconds can be
traced to the Babylonians who had sexagesimal system of numbers. The 360 degrees may
have been related to a year of 360 days. Many other systems of measurement divided the day
differently -- counting hours, decimal time, etc. Other calendars divided the year differently.

HISTORY OF METRIC
The metric system was first described in 1668 and officially adopted by France in 1799. Over
nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it became the dominant system worldwide, although several
countries, including the United States and China, continue to use their customary units. Among
the numerous customary systems, many have been adapted to become an integer multiple of a
related metric unit: The Scandinavian mile is now defined as 10 km, the Chinese jin is now
defined as 0.5 kg, and the Dutch ons is now defined as 100 g. The American system is unusual
in that its units have not been adapted in such a manner.

HISTORY OF VOLUME
Early civilizations used standard measuring pottery to measure volume. For instance, the city of
Herclea Pontica, special amphorae for measuring grains and liquids were found. The amphorae
were used as units of volume in all Greek territories. They came in various forms and sizes,
from 2 to 26 liters.
The ancient Greeks had a wide variety of containers for measuring volume, and differed from
each other depending on their intended use. The Hydria, for example, was used exclusively to
measure water, while a phial was a metallic or ceramic container for measuring wine. Large
measures were also available, for example the wine was commonly measured by Old Dutch
measures - the largest one being the akshoofd, a 232 liter barrel.

HISTORY OF SUNDIAL
Time was measured by the angle, or degree of the sun in the sky. The sundial is one of the
most common ancient forms of measuring time, allowing for marking the passage of hours by
the shadow cast on the dial. Of course, the downside to a timekeeping device that relied on the
sun was that during the night there was no way to know the time.
Other inventions soon surfaced to fill the void, candle clocks - candles with marks to show the
hour - were used for telling the time in china and were marked to tell the hour as they melted.
The ancient Egyptians boasted one of the most precise devices in the ancient world for
measuring time. The water clock, or Clepsydra, could be used to measure the hours, even at
night, but required manual upkeep to refill, and replenish the water flow. The first mechanical
clocks were invented by Chinese engineers in the 11th century.
Ancient calendars looked very different from the modern calendar, most of them being lunar or
lunisolar - dependent on the lunar phases to mark the months, with a new moon marking the
new month. The modern calendar used in most countries isn't reliant on external phenomena,
but simply follows a set pattern.
Spring Scale

Length
Conversion

Volume Measurements
Measuring Length

Sundial
 Clock (Time)

Odometer (metric)