Estimating physical quantities

post by Tristan H (Kythe) · 2021-07-04T20:50:19.313Z · ? · GW · 0 comments

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Weekly OBNYC events are usually only posted to the mailing list, but an unusual number of people are temporarily in NYC right now, and I remembered this, so posting it here too

I'm going to run a meetup where we have fun seeing how good we can get at estimating physical quantities using various measurement devices.

My friend had the fun idea to try estimating distances and checking with a laser tape measure, and it was surprisingly quick and fun to become much more accurate at estimating distance. What if we try this with all sorts of things and challenge ourselves and others?

I plan on bringing to the meetup:

• A laser tape measure, a measuring tape and calipers for varying scales of length/distance
• A pulse oximeter for measuring heart rate
• A thermometer: We can perhaps refrigerate and microwave water and check our temp guesses.
• A lux meter: Can you determine how bright it is at varying distances from lamps?
• A phone with pitch, decibels and time measuring apps (anyone can get these)
• Some spices with noticeable odor: Can you train yourself to tell how far from your nose they are blindfolded?
• Some sandpaper blocks of varying grit
• Measuring spoons
• A luggage scale

Can you master all the major senses? Can you best everyone at estimating the width of small objects? Come to the meetup and find out!

It'll be at an apartment in the financial district in Manhattan. Sign up to the Google Group and say you found the meetup on LessWrong for more details.

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