Quiz 23- 10 questions on Measurements- Answers

1. Which alternative system of medicine uses the unit t'sun ?

Ans: Acupuncture. It is a relative unit of distance in acupuncture, one t'sun being the distance between the two outer folds in the bent middle finger and is used to locate acupuncture points on that person's body

2. Samuel Clemen's took his pen name 'Mark Twain'  from a riverman's term for a certain depth in the river . This was the minimum depth needed for the boats to operate safely without running aground. How many Fathoms was Mark Twain equivalent of ?

Ans: Two Fathoms, Samuel Clemens had been a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi in his youth.

3. Degree Lovibond is a unit used to measure which characteristics of Honey or Beer?

Ans: Its colour.

4. The Ringelmann scale was developed by Maximilien Ringelmann in Paris in 1888 for measuring density of something. It has 5 levels of density measurements inferred from a grid of black lines on a white surface which, if viewed from a distance, merge into known shades of grey. What does the scale measure ?

Ans: Smoke density. To check how black smoke from a stack is.

5. In 1920  G.M.B. Dobson a  British physicist; invented a spectrometer to measure ozone concentrations from the ground. Today the unit for measuring the ozone in the atmosphere is named after him. So one Dobson unit represents the amount of atmospheric ozone that would form a uniform layer 0.01 millimeter (10 micrometers) thick at standard temperature and pressure. Under normal conditions, the atmosphere contains about 300 Dobson units of ozone. What happens when the reading becomes 220 Dobson units or less?

Ans: When the value is less than 220 dobson we have a hole in the ozone layer.

6. For devising a  formulae for calculating the probability of congestion  Danish mathematician A. K. Erlang was honoured by naming a unit to measure the traffic intensity, after him. What kind of traffic does Erlang represent?

Ans: Erlang represents telephone traffic intensity and is  an international unit of measurement for telephone use, equal to one caller using the telephone for one hour . A. K. Erlang's formulae calculated the probability of congestion of telephone lines.

7. The unit to measure electrical conductance (under SI system) is named after the founder of a well known international company. Name either the unit or the company.

Ans: Siemens , named after Ernst Werner von Siemens.

8.  For the ease of understanding and  for easily relatable comparisons- what is some times also expressed in "The Banana Equivalent Dose"?

Ans:  Radiation Dose. Like most organic material bananas too contain certain amount of radioactive isotopes. Approximated to 0.1 microsieverts (0.78 nanosieverts to be precise) the banana equivalent dose, is the additional dose a person will absorb from eating one banana. For example, Japan’s Fukushima disaster leaked 76 million bananas Equivalent Dose.
Curiously enough, though seriously used  by publications today, the term originated in the webcomic XKCD.

9.When the British standardised Weights and Measures in India in 1833, this was the base unit of mass. Traditionally the weight was equal to 100 ratti (ruttee) seeds,and its exact weight varied according to locality. The British standardised it to 180 troy ounces. This unit has been used in India since vedic times and the coins minted from Emperor Akbar's period to East India company's days weighed one of this unit. What unit?

Ans: Tola. Today it is mostly used in bazaars and souks as a measure of bullion and also a measure of charas. (Indian hashish)

10. Rick and cord are two units used to measure the same quantity. But rick is made illegal in many places because the size of rick has been manipulated by vendors. What are these two units used to measure?

Ans: It is a unit for measuring the volume of wood cut for fuel.1 cord = 3.62 cu m