A website to compare two objects of different height?

January 18, 2013 1:11 PM

I sometimes have trouble understanding the visual differences in height of two different objects.

You've seen the picture; a small graphic of a person next to a tree that helps put height differences into perspective. For instance if I am 6 foot tall, and I want to compare my height to a 100 foot tall tree, is there a website that will allow me to input two different heights to see and compare the difference?

posted by lstanley to technology (4 answers total)

Do you need a little person graphic next to a big tree graphic, or will just rectangles work? If the latter, then this is just a standard Bar Graph, you should be able to do it in Excel or Google Docs or a variety of Bar Graph generators on the web.
posted by brainmouse at 1:13 PM on January 18

Not so much the website, but the picture in question...
posted by grateful at 1:17 PM on January 18

http://www.sizeasy.com/
posted by 0110 at 1:24 PM on January 18 [5 favorites]

You know how artists hold a pencil at arm's length and mark a length with their thumb?
They do this to measure how many times a head goes into a body, for example.
You can do this with the person or object, then measure how many times that length goes into the tree.
Remember to hold the pencil at arm's length and keep your thumb mark in place.
This way you don't need any math, except the number of times the small measure goes into the big one--6 times, 12 times, etc.
But remember, the objects must be about the same distance away from you, e.g., the person needs to be near the tree.
A nearby person can appear to be as big as a California redwood, and a dime at arm's length will cover the moon.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 1:57 PM on January 18