Distances of Interest

[Sigurd]

The island of Great Britain encompassing England, Scotland and Wales - 80,820 sq.mi
Kansas - 81,820 sq. mi.
Minnesota - 79,620 sq. mi.
World Factbook - Includes 2008 est pop

Prince Edward Island - 2,195 SQ MI , 5,683.91
139,089 residents (Wikipedia 2008 )
Wikipedia - PEI

Gibraltar - 2.642 sq mi, 6.5 sq. km.
Pop: 28,875 (Wikipedia 2008 )
CIA Workbook
Wikipedia

Lichtenstein - Europe's fourth smallest state with an area of approximately 100 square miles. The total population is 28,000 of which 18,000 are citizens of the Principality.

[RPMiller]

I really wish the world (read that as the US) would just stop fooling around and adopt the metric system and dump imperial measures. It would be so much easier not to mention accurate.

[Sigurd]

RPMiller - I completely agree. Seems the US finds learning from the rest of the world a sign of weakness or failure.

btw. You posted - you owe the thread one interesting measurement

please.. (makes pathetic face)

[RPMiller]

From ocean to ocean (ie. San Diego, CA, USA to St. Simons Island, GA, USA), the shortest travel distance I found is 2,316.5.

[NeonKnight]

I'll post my interesting measurement as a puzzle:

If you have a rope long enough to wrap around the equator of Mars, how much longer must the rope be to allow a 6 Foot tall man to walk underneath it all the way around?

[Midgardsormr]

r = radius of Mars in feet
C1 = circumference of Mars in feet
C2 = new length of rope in feet
pi = 3.14159
L = additional length of rope necessary.

C1 = 2 * pi * r
C2 = 2 * pi * ( r + 6 )

C2 - C1 = L

Equatorial radius of Mars = 3396.2 km = 11142388 feet

C1 = 70009629 feet
C2 = 70009667 feet

L = 38 feet.

That doesn't seem long enough. Maybe I'll recheck my math...

edit: No, I'm right. C + x = ( 2 * pi * r ) + ( 2 * pi * ( r + x ) ) That's kind of strange; you'd think it would be much bigger.

[NeonKnight]

Nope, you got it, it's not that long is it? People think it needs to be really long, like miles, but only a mere 38 feet.

Infact it doesn;t matter what the Circumference is. Mercury, Pluto, Jupiter, etc, it always will be 38 feet

[töff]

I really wish the world (read that as the US) would just stop fooling around and adopt the metric system
...I completely agree. Seems the US finds learning from the rest of the world a sign of weakness or failure.

The U.S. officially adopted the metric system somewhere around the 1930's, I think. But like many populaces, we use both in everyday practice. We buy Pepsi in 2-liter bottles but milk & gasoline in gallons. We measure the "grams of fat" and "mg of sodium" in a Quarter-Pounder (a McDonalds hamburger). We give a pint of blood but receive cc's of plasma. Our wrenches come in both "mm" and "in". Our speedometers show both kph and mph. Cocaine is sold on the street by the "kee" (kilo[gram]), but pot by the ounce or pound.

btw ... the day I can't buy a pint in a pub in Britain will be a day I shed a tear.