Indirect Measurement in Science

Activity : The following is a list of unusual facts, some of which were determined by direct
measurement and others by indirect measurement. Identify those that must have been
made indirectly because they could not have been measured directly
Answer Fact
1. The average surface temperature of Mars is 210K
2. The wingspan of Boeing 747-400 jetliner (231.85 ft) is greater than the
distance of the Wright brother’s first flight (120ft)
3. Bamboo can grow up to 36 in. in a day
4. A flea can jump 350 times its own body length
5. The length of a carbon- aluminum bond is double the distance of a
carbon-hydrogen bond
6. Fingernails grow nearly four times faster than the toenails
7. Rain falls at 11 km per hour
8. The oldest living plants, bristlecone pines, are approximately 4600
years old
9. Beans and pepper were cultivated in Peru staring about 6000 BC
10. The sun is composed of 91.2% hydrogen, 8.7% helium and 0.1% other
elements
11. The mass of the Moon is 7 x 10 22 kg
12. The highest recorded “sneeze speed” is 165 km per hour
13. The surface temperature of Pluto is 40K
14. In 2000, Americans ate an average of 18 acres of pizza everyday
15. An ant can survive up to 2 days underwater
Other activities involving indirect measurement:
1. determining the height of a tree by a shadow with the use of a rod

2. determining the thickness of a sheet of paper with the use of a book

Activity : Examine each of the statements and determine if it is a characteristic of large (L) or
small
(S) animals.

L or S
1. Gravity is frequently a dangerous force
2. Electrostatic charge can be a dangerous force
3. Getting wet can be dangerous because proportionately greater weight is carried
4. The heart has to service proportionately more body mass, so it must work harder
5. It is difficult to do a somersault
6. Keeping cool is a bigger problem than keeping warm
7. They may “shut down” when they can’t stay warm
8. They can jump proportionately farther and move proportionately faster
9. They can live in colder climates because they hold their heat better
10. They can run up trees and may hang on glass or from smooth ceiling
11. They can take a water bath to cool off
12. They carry proportionately less weight and lose proportionately more body heat
13. They have proportionately little water reserve
14. They lose heat quickly so they have to eat frequently to stay warm
15. They must actively move air inside and oxygen to all cells
16. They pant or sweat to lose excess water
17. Surface absorption is a major source of oxygen
Activity : Calculating Your Personal Surface Area to Volume Ratio

Although it is difficult to directly measure the surface area or the volume of a human body, it is
relatively easy to estimate. The surface area of the body is roughly 100 times as great as the
surface area of ones handprint.

1. Measure the surface area of your hand by drawing an outline on a sheet of graph paper.
2. Count the number of cells covered by your hand, not including your wrist
3. Multiply this number by the area of a single square to estimate the surface area of your hand
4. Then multiply the surface area of our hand by 100 to obtain rough estimate of the surface area
of your body.
5. Express the surface area of your body in square centimeters (cm 2).
6. To estimate your body volume, first obtain your weight in kgs.
7. One kilogram of water has a volume of 1L but the body is denser than water due to bones and
various other dense tissues.
8. To determine the volume of your body, multiply its mass in kilograms by 0.9L per kilogram
9. Calculate the surface area to volume ratio (cm2 / L) of your body
10. Plot the surface area to volume ratios as a function of height for the members of the class
11. Plot the height on the x-axis and the corresponding surface area to volume ratios on the y-
axis.
Is there a general relationship between height and the surface area to volume ratio?
Activity : Surface Area to Volume Ratio in Real Life

The surface area to volume ratio affects the way freshly baked cookies cool.
Smaller cookies cool much faster than larger ones.
Smaller cookies have a much higher surface area to volume ration than do large cookies
Since the rate of heat loss is proportional to the surface area of the cookie while its heat content
is
proportional to its mass, and consequently its volume, a small-scale cookie cools much
faster than a large scale one.

Use similar logic to explain the following phenomena. Include in your explanations the role of
surface area and volume as well as the processes, which are listed in italics
1. A hot car in the summer time is more dangerous for infants than adults (cooling by sweating
,
dehydration)

2. It is proportionately less expensive per item in inventory to build a superstore or warehouse

store than it is to build a small store. (cost of construction, value of store contents)

3. Larger organisms are made of many small cells rather than a few large cells (diffusion of
nutrients, need of nutrients)

4. Powdered sugar dissolves faster than an equal mass in the form of a sugar cube (solubility)

5. Elephants have proportionately much larger ears than mice and this prevents overheating
(heatloss)

6. Microvilli are small finger-like convolutions in the walls of cells. They are found lining the
small intestines (nutrient absorption, water absorption)

7. Cacti are less likely to overheat in hot desert climates than plants with traditional leaves
(heat
absorption, changes in temperature)