12 meters is the same as 39.3701 feet, which is pretty close to 13 yards. These figures, though helpful, may not give you a complete description of how long or how high 12 meters is. That’s why it can be a good idea to memorize the heights of certain objects around you.
So, if you’d like to learn how to measure 12 meters without using a tape measure and an extra pair of hands, I’ll show you X handy everyday objects you can use as references for measuring close to or exactly 12 meters.
3-4 Olympic Swimming Pools
An Olympic-size swimming pool follows the measurement standards set by FINA. The pool must measure 50 feet long and 25 feet wide, but the depth of an Olympic swimming pool can vary.
In order to stick to FINA’s regulations, the swimming pool must measure between 2 and 3 meters deep. So, keeping the depth of such a swimming pool in mind, you would need between 3 and 4 of them to get a total height of 12 meters.
Olympic Diving Board
While we’re on the topic of swimming pools that adhere to Olympic regulations, we can also look at the height of the diving board. The flat, rigid surface of the diving board must stand 10 meters above the surface of the water, which is about the same height as a 3-story building. That’s 2 meters or about 2.6 footsteps short of 12 meters.
Alternatively, you could use the height or length of an Olympic-standard springboard, which stands 3 meters above the surface of the pool’s water. 4 of them standing on top of each other would give you the full 12 meters.
4 Basketball Hoops
Height matters in basketball, and there are several good reasons for that. The first is that your opponents are just as tall or taller than you, so in order to shoot the ball without being blocked, your hands need to extend higher than those of your defender. The second reason is that the basketball hoop stands 10 feet tall, so you have to be a giant to dunk the ball.
To measure 12 meters while using basketball hoops as your reference, you will need to envision stacking 4 of them on top of each other upright. They will give you a total height of 40 feet, which is about the size of a mousepad beyond the 12-meter mark.
7 People
One simple way to measure long distances is to use people as a reference. Of course, the height of every person will vary, but if you took a sample of over 47,000 men and women over 20 years old, you’d find that the average height of a person is 5 feet 9 inches or 1.7526 meters.
Knowing this, we can calculate that it will take about 7 average-sized people standing on each other’s heads to get to a height of 12 meters. However, if we took the average height of NBA players (6 feet 4.7 inches), we would only need slightly more than 6 of them to get to the full 12 meters.
6.5 Refrigerators
If you take a look at the typical top-freezer refrigerator, you will find that it stands between 62 and 72 inches (1.57 and 1.83 meters). If we do the match, you would need to stack around 6.5 refrigerators on top of each other to reach the 12-meter-tall mark.
Now, if you don’t have half-a-dozen full-sized fridges at home, you can use minifridges as a reference. Seeing as how a minifridge stands about 21 inches tall, you would need to stack around 22.5 of them to reach a height of 12 meters.
Field Goal Post
Here’s something that all the American football fans will know. An NFL or NCAA football goal post stands precisely 45 feet tall or about 13.72 meters. So, feel free to subtract the length of 1.72 golf clubs (each one measures 1 meter long, on average) to get to 12 meters, give or take a few centimeters.
However, if all you have access to are high school football goal posts, you still have some hope of measuring 12 meters. You will just have to multiply the height of the goal post (at least 6.71 meters) by 2 to get there.
4 School Buses
If you read the School Bus Dimensions and Guidelines article, you will know that there is more than one type of school bus. You will typically see 5 different kinds of school buses in your city with different lengths and seating capacities.
However, nearly all school bus types are identical in height, which is about 10.3 feet or 3.14 meters. Using the average height of a school bus, you would need to place four of them on top of each other to get slightly beyond 12 meters.
Weeping Willow
A weeping willow is a type of tree that looks perpetually sad. You should be able to immediately identify a weeping willow by its branches and tree that make it look as if the tree is “weeping.” A weeping willow can grow up to 40 feet tall in the right conditions.
Alternatively, if there are only crabapples in your neighborhood, you can take the average minimum height of a crabapple tree—15 feet—and multiply it by 3. However, you will have to subtract the height of a sedan (5 feet) to get close to 12 meters.
8 Bathroom Stall Panels
Speaking of things that are 5 feet tall, you should pay close attention to the height of the stall panels the next time you visit a public restroom. Although public restroom fixtures will vary from place to place, the stall panels should have an average height of 5 feet or 60 inches.
You will need to multiply the height of the panels by 5 to get to 12 meters. You could also use the height of a standing lamp, a Holstein cow, or a broom handle and multiply them by 5 to get to 40 feet.
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