HILL 2014-15
Leonardo da Vinci Measurement Lab
You have now been transported back to Italy to study measurement. Have you ever heard of Leonardo da
Vinci? He was an Italian artist, inventor, scientist that lived in the late 15 th and early 16 th centuries.
Besides painting the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, he drew detailed pictures of the human body. You may have seen this drawing before:
With this drawing, da Vinci tried to show that the distance a person can reach with arms held out
(“reaching width”) is the same as their standing height. Do you think he was right? Let’s review the steps of the scientific method as we discover whether da Vinci was correct in his assumption.
QUESTION: Do a majority of students in our class have a similar reaching width as their standing height?
Note: What is “similar”? For this lab we define “similar” any student whose standing height and reaching width are within 5.0 cm (or less) of each other.
Procedure:
LAB 1: Analyze da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man
You and your group will take measurements to examine one of the proportions displayed in Leonardo da
Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. As a class, you will then test the hypothesis that these proportions accurately describe the human body. Place a check mark next to the specific proportion your teacher has assigned to your group:
_____ Proportion A: The span of the man’s arms is equal to his height.
_____ Proportion B: The distance from the bottom of his knee to the bottom of his foot is onefourth of his height.
1.
2.
3.
Take turns marking your height on the butcher paper attached to the wall (hallway). Your height should be recorded with your shoes off. When each member of your group has finished marking his/her height, use the meter sticks or metric rulers to measure each group member’s height to the nearest 0.1 centimeter (cm). Record these in the second column of the data table on the next page (which is labeled “Height (cm).”
Based on the heights of your group’s members, calculate the predicted value of the other
(a.k.a. non-height) measurement, based on the Vitruvian proportion you were assigned. Record this value in the third column of the data table (which is labeled “Predicted Value of
Measurement (cm).”
Take the remaining measurement that you need. While taking these measurements, try to

HILL 2014-15
4.
5.
stand as straight as possible, mimicking the posture of the Vitruvian Man. Any measurements involving your feet should be taken with your shoes off. Your measurements should also be taken to the nearest 0.1 centimeter (cm) and recorded in the fourth column of the data table
(which is labeled “Actual Value of Measurement (cm).”
In the fifth column of the data table, calculate the difference between the expected value of your measurement and its actual value. Record this in 0.1 centimeters (cm).
Have one member of your group share your group’s data with your teacher, who will put together data tables that describe your class.
Subject’s Name
Data for Part 1 – Analyze da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man
Height (cm) Predicted Value of
Measurement (cm)
Actual Value of
Measurement (cm)
Difference
Between
Predicted and
Actual (cm)
Look at your data for Part 1: Did your measurements generally agree with what you predicted them to be, or were there big differences (+/- 2 cm)? Answer in your lab notebook.
In English usage, the palm or handsbreadth is generally taken to be three inches (7.62cm). Some confusion between the various types of hand measurement, and particularly between the hand and the handsbreadth, appears to have persisted in Britain for several centuries after the hand was standardized at four inches by a statute of King Henry VIII in 1541. Phillips's dictionary of 1706 gives four inches (10cm) for the length of the handful or hand, but three inches for the handsbreadth; Mortimer gives the same, three inches for the
Hand's-breadth, and four for the "Handful, or simply, Hand", but adds:
"The hand among horse-dealers, is four-fingers' breadth, being the fist clenched, whereby the height of a horse is measured," thus equating "hand" with both the palm and the fist.
LAB 2: Measuring the area (LxWxH) of the lab tables
1.
Using the palm picture, measure the table using either #1 or #4 hand measurement in cm. Each group must use 2 or more members’ hands to verify the measurement. Create a data table which shows the area of the table.
LAB 3: Measuring length of the hallway
1.
You will use a cubit to measure the hallway from the “X” to the end of the hall. A cubit is a measurement from the end of your elbow to the tip of your middle finger (in cm). Each group must use 2 or more members’ measurements to verify the distance. Create a data table which shows the length of the hall in cubits.