Stories and guides about hard-to-picture quantities: areas, volumes of water, weights… always with the figure drawn to scale so it actually sinks in.
From the beach the horizon is only 2.9 miles (4.7 km) away. The formula (1.22 × the square root of your height), a table by height, why mountains show up 60 miles out, and your horizon drawn to scale on a map.
A standard 170 × 70 cm bathtub is rated at 183 litres (48 gallons) and a real bath uses about 150. Capacities by size, how many minutes of shower equal a bath, and how to measure your own.
A marathon is 26.2 miles — 26 miles 385 yards, or 42.195 km — and a half marathon 13.11 miles. Why that odd figure, pace and finishing times, drawn to scale on a map.
A nautical mile is exactly 1,852 metres (1.852 km, 1.15 statute miles) — 15 % longer than a land mile. Why it measures that, what a knot is and a conversion table, drawn on a map.
10,000 steps come to about 7.5 km (4.7 miles) — between 7 and 8 km. Where the figure comes from, how many steps you really need and how long it takes. See it drawn to scale on a map.
An Olympic swimming pool holds about 2.5 million litres (2,500 m³): some 16,667 bathtubs or 83 tanker trucks. Official size, equivalents and what it costs to fill.