Tag Archives: stuff that weighs more than me

Stuff That Weighs More Than Me: Wilson Observatory 100-Inch Hooker Telescope

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On a recent, beautiful, sunny, California day my husband and I snaked our way 5,710 feet up the steep and winding roads to Mt. Wilson Observatory.  We took the 2 hour walking tour.  The site was amazing and full of scientific wonders.  And naturally, it contained more than a few things that weighed more than me.  For the purposes of this blog post, we’ll talk about the 100-inch telescope called the Hooker telescope.  This bad boy was the largest telescope in the world from ts completion in 1917 until the 200-inch Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory was built in 1948.

Before Hale even finished work on the 60-inch Hale Telescope at Wilson Observatory, and before he even knew for sure that the technique pioneered on the 60-inch telescope would work, Hale began on the 100-inch Hooker telescope.  The lens was formed based on a blank containing over two tons of fused glass which was melted in a furnace into one piece.  Once melted, the lens took over 1 year to cool without cracking.  In fact from pour to final polish, the lens took over 5 years to complete.

Telescope2

I look into the newly installed eyepiece for the 100-inch telescope at Wilson Observatory.

The telescope is floated on mercury to make it easier for the over 30 attached motors to move it into place.  In the photo above, you can see me looking through the newly installed eyepiece which allows overnight guests to get together in viewing parties and observe the universe (which weighs even MORE than me).

Telescope1

Here’s the stats:

Mirror diameter: 100 inches

Mirror weight: 9,000  lbs.

Turning telescope (which floats on mercury) 87 tons

Rotating Dome (placed over the telescope) Diameter: 100 ft.  Weight:  500 tons

Clock Mechanism:  Falling weight–2 tons, bronze parts–1,000 lbs.  Iron parts–3,000 lbs.

Total Telescope Weight: over 650 tons

Conclusion the 100-inch Hooker Telescope at Wilson Observatory weighs more than me.

Love, Jeanette DePatie (AKA The Fat Chick)

The 60-inch Hale telescope and the 100-inch Hooker telescope seen from the air.

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Stuff That Weighs More than Me: Columbian Mammoth

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PGMU406248059410Spent a wonderful afternoon at the Page Museum next to the La Brea Tar Pits.  It was super fun and we were spoiled for choice in terms of stuff that weighs more than me.  The saber toothed cat (not tiger) pictured above fit the bill quite nicely.  As did many other critters like the sloths.  But for sheer hugeness, I have selected as today’s stuff that weighs more than me, the Columbian Mammoth.

ColumbianMammothThis bad boy (Mammuthus columbi) was pretty darn big.  He lived in North America during the late Pleistocene Era.  Ready for the stats?  Copy that!

Height:  12 to 13 ft.

Tusks: Up to 14 ft. long

Diet: Herbivore, so like salad.  700 pounds per day of salad.

Weight: 7 to 9 metric tons

Conclusion

Love, Jeanette DePatie (AKA The Fat Chick)

Stuff that Weighs More than Me: The Way by Alexander Liberman

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Yep I'm in that picture. Look verrrrry closely.

Yep I’m in that picture. Look verrrrry closely.

While on our recent trip to Missouri, we stopped at Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis.  This magnificent space hosts so, so many wonderful sculptures including this iconic behemoth called The Way by Russian-born artist Alexander Liberman.

IMG_0970Composed on site in 1980, the piece is comprised of over 18 salvaged steel oil tanks welded together.  It’s columns echo monumental Greek architecture.  Up close, you’ll see that a number of the oil tanks are crushed to varying degrees to further demonstrate the “weight” of the sculpture.  In fact, you might want to call this The Weigh by Alexander Liberman, because this thing is massive!

Here’s the stats:

Length: 780 inches (65 feet)

Width: 1224 inches (102 feet)

Height: 1200 inches (100 feet)

Weight Single salvaged steel oil tank:  (Math alert) Assuming it’s 3/16th inch thick steel, then that weights 7.66 pounds per square foot.  A cylinder with with a radius of 5 feet and a length of 40 feet would have an area of 691 square feet. 691 * 7.66 = 5,293 pounds empty

Weight of entire sculpture: 5,293 x 18=95,274 pounds

Conclusion: The Way by Alexander Liberman weighs just a little more than me.

Love, Jeanette DePatie (AKA The Fat Chick)

An announcement plus Stuff that Weighs More than Me: World’s Biggest Chess Piece

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IMG_0985Okay, so we have a few things to talk about today.  One is to share with you my latest entry to stuff that weighs more than me.  In the above photo, I am posing next to the world’s largest chess piece.  I encountered it completely by chance in the Central West End of St. Louis today.  I stopped for lunch and there it was, in all it’s geeky glory–a really, really giant chess piece.  I looked at my husband and he grinned as he said, “Do you want a photo for your blog?”  “Heck yeah,” I replied.  “I’m quite sure THAT weighs more than me.”

IMG_0987

Indeed it does.  As the above photo indicates, the chess piece is as tall as a giraffe.  And were it used in an actual game of chess, it would require a chess board measuring over 70 feet per side–large enough to park 12 school buses.  Here’s the stats:

Height: 14ft. 7in.

Width: 6 ft. at the base

Material: 3/4″ plywood

Weight: 2,280 pounds

Conclusion: whether king or pawn, the world’s largest chess piece weighs more than me.

And now for the big announcement!  I’m thrilled to report that this blog was selected as one of the 2014 Top Positive Body Image Blogs and sites by Body Bliss Central!  W00t!  With special thanks to Ragen Chastain for the nomination!

Looking forward to heading for home and sleeping in my very own bed soon!

Love,

Jeanette DePatie

AKA The Fat Chick

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Stuff That Weighs More Than Me: Russian MiG

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Jeanette rocks out in a Russian Mig

Jeanette rocks out in a Russian MiG

I haven’t done one of these in a while, but I just CAN’T resist.  I am speaking at the National Association of Broadcasters Event in Las Vegas this week, and while there I got a chance to sit my rump into a genuine Russian MiG.  How cool is that!?  I spotted this beautiful blue baby from across the lot and thought?  How much does that plane weigh?  I’ll bet it weighs more than me!  The lady was kind enough to take my picture.  And I got back to the convention center and did a leetle bit o’ research.  Here’s the stats:

MiG 15 bis

  • Crew: 1 or 2
  • Length: 10.08 m (33 ft 1 in)
  • Wingspan: 10.08 m (33 ft 1 in)
  • Height: 3.7 m (12 ft 2 in)
  • Wing area: 20.6 m2 (222 sq ft)
  • Airfoil: TsAGI S-10 / TsAGI SR-3
  • Empty weight: 3,630 kg (8,003 lb)
  • Gross weight: 5,000 kg (11,023 lb)
  • Max takeoff weight: 6,105 kg (13,459 lb)

And even though the cockpit was teeny tiny, any way you measure it–full, empty or at maximum takeoff weight, this Russian MiG weighs more than me.

mig2Love,

Jeanette DePatie AKA The Fat Chick

Stuff That Weighs More Than Me: Ship Loaded with Containers

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sailing2This weekend some awesome friends of ours asked us to go out sailing with them.  And while we were having a wonderful time, I didn’t forget about YOU my dear readers.  As we passed a large ship carrying many, many containers, I was heard to say, “Quick get out your camera; I am SURE that thing weighs more than me!”

Shipping3

It’s difficult to make out exactly how many containers are on that ship.  But I’m sure there are at least 100.  Container ships can apparently carry up to 16,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units).  And it’s difficult to say how heavy each container is exactly, but if we do a little “back of the envelope figuring we come up with the following stats:

20′ Container weight empty: 5,290 lb (2,400 kg)

20′ Container maximum weight full: 67,200 lb (30,480 kg)

Considering an average weight of 50,000 lb per container and a minimum of 100 containers on the ship, the container weight alone would be:

5,000,000 lbs.

Conclusion: Empty or full, that container ship weighs more than me.  Oh and sailing totally rocks!

Love,

The Fat Chick

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Stuff That Weighs More than Me: World’s Largest Caravan

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globecaravan

It was actually THIS picture, sent to me by a friend, that got me on the whole “retreat” theme for this week in the first place.  The Globe Caravan (pictured above) is owned by Sheikh Hamad bin Hamdan Al Nahyan (The Rainbow Sheikh).  It is just one of the more outstanding examples in his car collection estimated to contain somewhere between 200 and 400 cars and trucks.  Oh and just to clarify a few things, A)The Rainbow Sheikh loves cars and trucks and B)this member of the Abu Dhabi ruling Royal Family is rich.  In fact he not only owns his own island (Futaisi Island) but reportedly had the word HAMAD carved so deeply into the soil that waterways could flow into the channels and the word could be read from space.

The Globe Caravan is usually on display at the Emirates National Auto Museum.  And heeeere’s the stats:

Number of stories: 3

Number of bedrooms: 9

Number of bathrooms: 9

Scale: Reportedly exactly 1,000,000:1 the real Earth

Weight: I dunno.  If we calculate based on the earth calculation:

Weight of Earth: (Approximately)6,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000 Kilograms

Divide that by 1,000,000, you get 6,000,000,000,000,000,000 which is like 6 Trillion tons, so maybe the scale model thing is slightly exaggerated.  

CONCLUSION: As you can see from the picture above, the thing is pretty darn big.  And even though I don’t know the exact weight, I’m fairly confident, it Weighs More Than Me.

Oh and by the way, if you’d like to contribute to another (slightly smaller) model of the world, consider donating to the World’s Largest Paper Mache Project by the Size Diversity Task Force.

Love,

The Fat Chick

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Stuff that Weighs More than Me: Mirrors on the Hubble Telescope

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Well, all the selfies on the Fat and Proud project has got me thinking about how cell phones are modern mirrors, so naturally I thought more about mirrors and which ones might weigh more than me.  I’m also working on a space-themed project for a client and so naturally, the Hubble Telescope popped into my mind.  (Yup, my scary brain process, let me show you it…) Anywho, besides being one incredibly bad @ssed piece of scientific equipment, the Hubble Telescope is one big mama jamma.  Named the first space-based telescope, the Hubble helped confirm that the universe is expanding–a key tenet of the Big Bang Theory.  (FYI Megan and Sarah, this is not just an awesome television show!)

The Hubble Telescope was launched into space from the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1990.  It circles the earth once every 97 minutes at a low-earth orbit of 307 nautical miles.  And it has taken some gorgeous pictures like these:

saturn jupiter

Besides being incredibly huge and powerful, the giant mirrors in the Hubble are incredibly accurate. In fact, Hubble’s two mirrors were ground so that they do not deviate from a perfect curve by more than 1/800,000th of an inch. To give you as sense of what that means, If Hubble’s primary mirror were scaled up to the diameter of the Earth, the biggest bump would be only six inches tall. Here’s some additional stats:

Mirrors:

Primary Mirror Diameter: 94.5 in (2.4 m)
Primary Mirror Weight: 1,825 lb (828 kg)
Secondary Mirror Diameter: 12 in (0.3 m)
Secondary Mirror Weight: 27.4 lb (12.3 kg)

Telescope:

Length: 43.5 ft (13.2 m)
Weight: 24,500 lb (11,110 kg)
Maximum Diameter: 14 ft (4.2 m)

Conclusion: The Hubble Telescope mirrors weigh more than me!

Love,

The Fat Chick

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Stuff That Weighs More Than Me: Cassini Spacecraft

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As I was writing my post about “waving at Saturn” yesterday, I had a realization.  “Hey,” I thought, “I’ll bet that Cassini Spacecraft taking photos from Saturn weighs more than me.”

So I started investigating.  Despite the fact that it is expensive to launch stuff into space, Cassini is pretty big.  It is bristling with lots of scientific instruments designed to function like our human senses to detect stuff in space.  Ready?  Here’s the stats:

Stabilization: 3 axis-stabilized spacecraft utilizing both thrusters and reaction wheels to stay at the right angle and on course.

Launch Vehicle: Titan IV-B/Centaur

Satellite of: Saturn

Planets flown by: Venus, Moon, Earth, Masursky, Jupiter, Saturn’s moons

Weight (Mass): 2,523 kg (5,560 lb)

Conclusion: The Cassini Spacecraft weighs more than me.

Love,

The Fat Chick

P.S. The images are starting to come in from Friday’s photo shoot and they are stunning.  Here’s a sample to wet your whistle:

That little white arrow is pointing to the Earth.

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Stuff that Weighs More Than Me: F4F-3 Wildcat WWII Fighter Plane

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IMG_0794

During the elebenty hours I spent at O’Hare Airport today, I did have the fortune to run into at least one thing that weighs more than me. 

IMG_0797

As you can see from the plaque (that also serves as a unique format for a “selfie”) this is an F4F-3 Wildcat.  This single seat, fighter flew during WWII and was later used primarily for training missions.  It also served as blog fodder and consolation prize for having spent nearly 2 lifetimes at the airport today. 

And here’s the specs:

Length: 28 ft. 9 in.

Height: 9 ft.  2 in.

Wingspan 38 ft.

Weight Empty: 5342 lbs.

Gross Weight with Fuel/Ammo 7002 lbs.

Max Weight: 8,152 lbs.

Conclusion: This WWII fighter plane weighs more (and has been at the airport slightly longer) than me. 

Love,

The Fat Chick

Like my posts?  You’ll love my stuff!

Buy my book: The Fat Chick Works Out! (Fitness that is Fun and Feasible for Folks of All Ages, Shapes Sizes and Abilities)–available in softcover and e-book versions

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