18 August 2017

Definitely not Metric Measurement Quiz: Answers

1. An area of land of a chain by a furlong is known as ...
an acre.

2. How many farthings in a groat?
16 farthings. Four farthings in a penny, four pennies in a groat. https://24carat.co.uk/farthingstoryframe.html

3. If there are 25 sheets of paper in a quire, how many are there in a ream?
500 sheets, 20 quires in a ream.

4. What was the traditional use of a silver sixpence?
A silver sixpence was kept year to year to put in the Christmas pudding. The lucky person to get it in their serving, if they didn't swallow it, got to exchange it for a regular sixpence.

5. In nautical terminology, how many watches in 24 hours?
7 watches.
First afternoon Watch: 12 noon to 4 pm.
First Dog Watch: 4 pm to 6 pm.
Second Dog Watch: 6 pm to 8 pm.
First Night Watch: 8pm to midnight.
Middle Night Watch: Midnight to 4 pm.
Morning Watch: 4 am to 8 am.
Forenoon Watch: 8 am to noon.

6. What was traditionally measured by the cran?
Herring.

7. In measuring British ale or beer how many gallons in a firkin?
9 gallons in a furkin. 4 furkins in a barrel.

8. At a speed of one knot how long would it take to travel directly from the equator to the pole?
540  - correction 5,400 hours. A knot is one nautical mile per hour. A nautical mile is one minute of latitude. 60 minutes in a degree, 90 degrees between equator and pole.

9. One horsepower, the power required to lift 33,000 pounds by one foot in one minute, equals how many watts?
Approximately 746 watts

10. How many guineas are required to make an even number of pounds?
20, or 40 if you're fussy. A guinea is 21 shillings, a pound is 20 shillings. 20 guineas is 21 pounds which isn't an even number. 40 guineas is 42 pounds.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Really good tease John. I could only guess what I thought was a right answer for one of them, and I was WRONG!!! Cheers, BT

John Cordes said...

Enjoyed the quiz!
There are 5400 nautical miles between the Equator and the North Pole. Did you mean the speed to be 10 knots?