And 640 acres make a square mile. Remember that from my "Michigan History and Government" in seventh grade!
I frequently use that figure when reading about forest fires. The burned area is generally reported in acres burned, but while I can picture an acre (208' 9" square), converting it to square miles is just that much more impressive.
If they say that 25,000 acres have been burned over, I realize that it's the same area as the "first due" for our fire department - some 37 square miles...
Trivia on measuring acres - I've read that one method for determining actual acreage of an irregular lot is to cut out the lot (using an accurate map, etc) from cardboard of a known weight and density (ie, cut out an "acre" and determine what it weighs), then weigh the lot cutout and computing the area from there.
I've got an app on my smartphone that will let me walk the boundries of a lot, or anything else (like the final fire line), then it will compute the area.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
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