6 Inch Trivia Quiz

Answer: 0.3048 metre

A foot is about 15% of a man's height, meaning that in men 160-180 cm tall the variation would be 245-275 mm, a bit short of the required 305 mm. Some archaeologists believe that "foot" is synonymous with "shoe" for measurement purposes. Archaeologists also believe that the Egyptians and Mesopotamians preferred the cubit while the Romans and the Greeks preferred the foot. A foot is 13.2 inches (333.5 mm) and a cubit is 20.8 inches (528.3 mm) in the bronze age. A Greek foot was 302 mm but there was variation whereas the standard Roman foot (pes) was around 295 mm. Both the Greeks and the Romans subdivided the foot into 16 digits, but the Romans also subdivided the foot into 12 unciae (from which both the English words "inch" and "ounce" originated). In Britain an inch was calibrated against 3 barleycorns.

In 1959, in the United States and the Commonwealth of Nations the International Yard and Pound Agreement defined the "length of the international yard as exactly 0.9144 meters". Consequently, the international foot is defined to be equal to exactly 0.3048 meters or 304.8mm. It seems ironic that the fundamental Imperial length measurement is standardised by a unit of the Metric System.

Therefore, for this quiz 6 inches is equivalent to 152.4 mm.

Answer: Passport

The size of a passport normally meets the ISO/IEC 7810 ID-3 standard, which dictates a size of 125 × 88 mm (4.9 × 3.5 in). This size is the B7 format. King Henry V of England invented the first true passport, as a means of proving identity outside of England. The earliest reference is found in a 1414 Act of Parliament.

The size of most credit, debit and ATM cards is 85.60 mm × 53.98 mm (3.375 in × 2.125 in) conforming to the ISO/IEC 7810 ID-1 standard. Even the size of the rounded ends is standardised. Diners' Club introduced the first credit card in 1950.

A "#2" or HB pencil is 7.5 in length (191 mm) when new. The one depicted is sharpened and is 7 3/8 inches long (187 mm).
Pencils were first invented in England in 1564 and first mass produced in Germany in 1862.

A matchbox is interesting. The length is exactly 2 1/2 inches long. It is a useful tool to measure small every day items. Matches were invented in 1805 in France. Safety matches were invented in 1844 and the matchbox soon after.

Answer: US $1

The US $1 bill is 6.14 inches or 156.1 mm long. (I have see a couple of bills that have had vertical lines drawn on them one inch apart. They were presumably used as rulers [but then, how did they measure the lines in the first place]). American bank bills (1,2,5,10,20,50,100 dollars) are all the same size: 6.14 x 2.61 inches with slight changes in colours to differentiate them. The $2 note is rare (though still printed).

The Australian banknotes, introduced in 1992, are made from polymers to reduce wear. There are five notes from $5 to $100 (130 mm rising to 168 mm in length). The $20 depicted is 144 mm long, while the fifty dollar note is closest to six inches at 151 mm.

Japanese currency has five notes: 1000, 2000, 5000 and 10000 Yen, though the 2000 Yen note is very rare and the 5000 Yen is not that common. You therefore need to count those zeroes before you hand over a note in Japan.

The Euro has seven banknotes ranging from five to 500 Euros. Each has a different size and colour ranging from 120 mm (5 Euros) to 160 mm (500 Euros). The 200 Euro note has is the closet to six inches at 153 mm.

Answer: Teaspoon

OMG, I hope I set the cutlery out in the correct formation. My mother would be ashamed of me if I did not...

Place size was the most popular and smallest flatware size in the US.

Place was traditionally the luncheon-size flatware, so the fork and knife were smaller, with the knife measuring 9 inches.

Dinner size was the middle range in size; the fork and knife were slightly larger than place size with the knife at 9 3/4 inches.

Continental size was the largest size flatware; continental size featured a longer fork, knife, and soup spoon than the other sizes, with the knife measuring 10-12 inches.

However, it didn't matter which set you used. Teaspoons, the smallest item from all three sizes, were all around 6 1/4 inches. Not all teaspoons measure this, of course, but it holds true for the three settings used for the question.

([It's OK, Mum, I just put the teaspoon alongside the fork for comparative reasons. I put the spoon back on the saucer after I took the photo.)

Answer: 45 / Single

The original phonograph records had various speeds and sizes. By 1910 in the US, the size was standardised at 10 inches, whereas it was 1925 before the speed was standardised at 78 rpm. This combination gave approximately three minutes of music per side. (Ever wondered why those really golden oldies were all three minutes long, or less?). Because of this limitation, the album or long player (12 in / 305 mm) was developed. Released by Columbia in 1948, with a speed of 33 1/3 rpm, this format could obviously store much more music. About the same time RCA Victor released the 7 inch single (177 mm) with a speed of 45 rpm. the recording industry held its breath, waiting for one format to prevail. Both did...

The compact cassette was developed by Phillips in 1963. It has its origins in dictation machines but by the 1970 technological improvements made music reproduction almost as good as vinyl. A compact cassette was 100.5 mm long (3.96 in)

Compact Discs were introduced in 1982. Standard CDs have a diameter of 120 millimetres (4.7 in). and can contain around 80 minutes of music in uncompressed form.

In 2014 the digital download market was worth more than the total sales of "hard format" music. Sad.

[If you haven't clicked on the photo yet, do so now and you can see my excellent taste in music. If I was not so impatient to take the photos for this quiz, I could have driven across the other side of town and picked up an Elvis Presley 78 to round out the photo.]

Answer: 2 x 5280

The metric system may be boring but it's easy to learn. In the imperial system you have to remember your conversion factors:

12 inches in a foot.
3 feet (foots?) in a yard
1760 or 5280 feet yards in a mile
(Please do not ask me about chains and furlongs!).

So, as a foot contains two six inch blocks in a foot, you need only multiply 2x5280 or if the photo was no help: 2x3x1760.

Answer: Two - tape measure and spanner/wrench

Tools are rarely standardised though tape measures are often exactly 75 mm (in this case) or 3 inches along the tape side so you can measure 'interior' distances. In this picture we need to use our trusty matchbox to help us estimate. The spanner is 150 mm or just under 6 inches long. All others exceed 6 inches.

Metal hammers and tongs (the first pliers) can trace their origin back to the bronze age 3000 years BC. Screwdrivers date back to the late middle ages (Phillips head screwdriver - 1930) and the retractable tape measure 1868. The spanner was patented in 1842 and the adjustable wrench in 1891.

(I actually do not have a six inch toolbox. The question was designed for illustrative purposes. Even my pencil case is eight inches long, but then again it needs to hold 7.5 inch hexagonal pencils).

Answer: B

This is an application of Pythagoras's theorem that the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides. Hence for an 'ideal' hypotenuse of 6 inches, we have a square of 36 sq. in.

A: (3x3) + (5x5) = 34
B: (1x1) + (6x6) = 37
C: (4x4) + (4x4) = 32
D: (2x2) + (7x7) = 53

Answer: Soccer Ball

Surprisingly,for such a handy measurement, there are no sporting balls around 6 inches in diameter. A men's shot put is 110-130 mm diameter (4.33 to 5.12 in) and a handball (not commonly played in Australia and hard to find) is 7.3-7.5 inches (185-191) in diameter.

A golf ball is 1.68 inches or 42.67 mm in diameter. These are minimum sizes. The size changed from 1.62 inches in 1990.

A tennis ball is 2.575 to 2.700 inches in diameter (65.4-68.6 mm).

Soccer balls have a standard diameter of 8.5 to 8.8 inches (213-218 mm).

A size 7 regulation basket ball is the largest ball used in regulated sports. It has a diameter of 9.4 inches (239 mm).

The smallest ball is either a ping pong ball at 40 mm (up from 38 mm after the 2000 Sydney Olympics), or a squash ball at 39.5-40.5 mm in diameter.

Answer: $6.00 Australian

Measuring everything in imperial and having to remember conversion factors is so hard. So humour me. Let do this one in millimetres. Six inches is 152.4mm.

Six UK pounds is six coins each 22 mm in diameter. That's 132 mm, a bit short.

An American quarter is just about an inch in diameter at 24.3 mm. If we have US $1.25, we have five coins. That makes 121.65 mm. Also a bit short.

We must also have five fifty cent pieces if we have AU $2.50. At 33 cents diameter, that's 165mm. Hmm, a bit too much.

An Australian dollar coin is closer to an inch than an American quarter with a diameter of 25 mm. Therefore we need six coins to make six Aussie dollars which is now 150 mm long. This is the closet model to 152.4 mm or 6 inches.

(Australia wins again).