Pyramids

I, who have no love for math, spent two hours last night calculating how big the pyramids would all be using a 30 meters to 1 centimeter scale.  And not only did I figure out the dimensions, I then cut them out of paper.  Why would a supposedly sane person do this, you ask?  Well, I am scheduled to teach the younger group of our history co-op this morning and we're all about hands-on learning.  What better way to get a sense of scale than to lay out a section of the Nile River valley on my third floor and place the pyramids where they would be found?

Did you know that at this scale the Great Pyramid is 4.9 cm tall, the Statue of Liberty is 3 cm, a person is the size of a grain of salt, and the Nile River is 8 FEET wide?  I did the math over and over, but it's true.  And somewhat unbelievable.  Since we can't take a field trip to Egypt, we can at least get a sense of the immense size of the place.  And at this scale, we really can only lay out a portion of the Nile, because it would still be longer than my house.

Even though this is my third time to study ancient Egypt with my children, I am still learning new things.  It's great fun, and I feel so blessed to be able to share this joy of learning with my children.

Comments

sandwichinwi said…
Whoa! We just measured this out and my kids are astounded (as am I!). We studied Egypt last year and somehow this fact escaped us. Thanks for sharing!!

Blessings,
Sandwich
11/03/2011 8:26 AM
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