How Much is Inside The University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt?
Three teams participating in the University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt have asked Cockeyed.com to host their Scavenger-hunt-related guest episodes of How Much is Inside.
By Rob Cockerham |
Team Snell-Hitchcock - BSLC Greenhouse
The University of Chicago Greenhouse comprises the sixth floor of the Biological Sciences Learning Center at 924 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL. This facility, run by a staff of four dedicated individuals, services dozens of masochistic graduate students who spend long hours pulling the reproductive organs out of tiny flowers. It also holds a small collection of exotic plants, including several rare orchids, a pair of cycads, and numerous succulents that bear a striking resemblance to space pickles.
We counted 54 rows of metal work benches, one staff member with a watering can, and one disgruntled research assistant in a lab apron. But the real question is: how much air can it hold?
On Friday morning, we decided to find out.
Emily was frustrated with the quality of our measuring tape. We needed a better alternative.
We decided to measure the volume of the greenhouse with people.
The greenhouse is 22 people long in the north-south direction.
Ah, so relaxing. There's nothing quite like chillin' on a damp cement floor.
It's 11.3 people wide in the east-west direction.
The greenhouse has five triangular roofs. At the lowest point, they are 1.5 people tall.
At their peaks, the roofs are about 3 people tall. Emily can't even touch the top.
This makes the greenhouse volume approximately equal to 559 cubic people, or about 106,340 cubic feet.
