Extra Credit Project:  Collecting Data

For this project, all you have to do is collect the data and bring it in – then, I will assign you  part 2 of the project. 

Part 2 of this project should take only about 30 minutes of your time.

Background Information
Leonardo da Vinci, a famous Italian renaissance inventor and painter, was greatly influenced by a man named Vitruvius. Vitruvius was a Roman engineer and architect during the first century B.C. Vitruvius discovered a formula to model what he thought were ideal proportions for a man. Da Vinci used this ideal model when drawing the Vitruvian Man in about the year 1490.
The drawing shows a man standing in a square, which is inside a circle. The man has two pair of outstretched arms and two pair of outstretched legs. These are some of the proportions given for the Vitruvian Man:
• The span of the man’s arms is equal to his height.
• The width of his shoulders is one-fourth of his height.
• The distance from the top of his head to the middle of his chest is one-fourth of his height.
• The distance from the middle of his chest to the top of his leg is one-fourth of his height.
• The distance from the top of his leg to the bottom of his knee is one-fourth of his height.
• The distance from the bottom of his knee to the bottom of his foot is one-fourth of his height.

Laboratory Exercise Objective
You will learn and practice the scientific method by measuring human dimensions.
Working with a partner, measure your arm span by standing against a flat surface and spreading your arms out as far as possible. Have your partner measure the distance from the longest finger on one hand to the tip of the longest finger on the other hand.

Repeat measurements on your partner.
Remove your shoes and have your partner measure your height as you stand against a flat surface. Measure the distance from the top of your head to the floor. Record your measurements.

The subject of the exercise is Leonardo da Vinci’s drawing Vitruvian Man. You will focus on the primary proportion of the drawing, “The span of the man’s arms is equal to his height.” You will test a hypothesis regarding Vitruvius’ theory on human proportions.

Draw up a table and collect the data from 5 other people.  If you can, survey other students as well – as this would make the lines more accurate!  Or if your data is more specific (like basketball players v non-basketball players), you may need to go out and harvest the raw data. 

The more data you collect the more credit you will receive.

Table

Name     Height    Arm span