If you’re trying to gauge what 7 feet looks like, a tape measure can be of some assistance. But what if you don’t have one on hand? You may know that 7 feet is the same as 2-1/3 yards or 2.1336 meters, but that doesn’t help much with visualizing 7 feet. To see 7 feet in your mind’s eye, you need a reference point.
Take a look at this list of things that you can use to measure 7 feet:
- 2-1/2 baseball bats
- 3 stoves
- 8 5-gallon water jugs
- 3 pillows
- 4 24-inch monitors
- 7 floor tiles
- 5-1/4 large pizza boxes
- 2 acoustic guitars
1. 2-1/2 Baseball Bats
These wooden or metal bats used in baseball have a history as fascinating as the game itself. Seeing as how the sport is dropping in popularity, that’s not saying much. The first bats were hand-crafted sticks, but modern bats are designed to tailored to suit individual batters. Modern bats usually weigh 32 ounces, but Babe Ruth’s was a massive 44.6 ounces!
To estimate 7 feet using baseball bats, which are typically 34 inches long, you can line up about 2-1/2 bats end to end. The longest bat used in an official game was only 36 inches, so you would need precisely 2-1/3 of them to reach 7 feet.
2. 3 Stoves
Stoves have come a long way from being clay pots in 1490 to modern electric and gas ranges. What might surprise you is that one of the Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin, engineered the first metal stove. It used wood as a fuel and could heat up entire homes. In fact, its design was used for over 2 centuries.
The size of a stove varies between models, but a typical width is 30 inches. So, to get 7 feet in terms of stove widths, you’d need to imagine placing nearly 3 of them in line side by side. Commercial stoves are much larger than residential ones, so a single commercial stove would get you pretty close to 7 feet.
3. 8 5-Gallon Water Jugs
There’s nothing more awkward than congregating around a water cooler at the office and making small talk with co-workers. Of course, without the water jug, there would be no purpose to be there in the first place. The water is contained within a plastic jug with a capacity of 5 gallons.
The typical 5-gallon jug measures 10-3/4 inches in diameter at the base. That means 8 of them put in a line would reach a distance of around 7 feet. Since each 5-gallon jug weighs around 42 pounds with the water, 7 feet of these jugs would weigh an astounding 336 pounds!
4. 3 Pillows
One of the most important parts of sleeping comfortably is placing your head on a pillow. In fact, it’s recommended since they can keep your spine in a neutral position. The most important thing, however, is that you feel comfortable in bed, whether or not you prop your head on a pillow before falling asleep.
Pillows come in various sizes, but a typical length is 26 inches. 7 feet measured in the lengths of pillows would be around 3. Since the average person uses 2 pillows, just borrow one of your partner’s pillows, and you’ll have a makeshift ruler for measuring 7 feet.
5. 4 24-inch Monitors
A few short decades ago, computer monitors weren’t always sleek devices with super-wide displays. CRT monitors were bulky and bulky, and they didn’t have the crispest of image qualities. Fast-forward to today, and seemingly every computer user has a wide monitor—sometimes even more than 1 of them!
The size of a monitor refers to the display’s diagonal length. For instance, a 24-inch monitor is 24 inches from one corner to the opposite corner, but the physical dimensions may differ slightly. A typical 24-inch monitor is slightly under 21 inches wide, so 4 of them would get you pretty close to 7 feet.
6. 7 Floor Tiles
Tiles are like the chameleons of home decor, dating back to Ancient China and Egypt. They come in all sorts of materials—ceramic, porcelain, even glass! In Barcelona, Antoni Gaudí created vibrant, mosaic tiles that are now iconic.
The size of a tile may differ from another, but a typical size is 12 inches on all sides. This is perfect since you would need exactly 7 of them to measure 7 feet. Other tiles can be 48 × 48 inches, so slightly less than 2 of them would reach the same 7-foot distance. Remember to account for the grout between the tiles, which is usually 2-3 millimeters wide.
7. 5-1/4 Large Pizza Boxes
Pizza boxes, often made of corrugated cardboard, are designed to keep your pizza hot and crispy. The first square pizza box was invented in the 1960s. Before that, pizzas were delivered in paper bags, which didn’t keep them warm for long. Some pizza boxes today even have perforated edges for easy plate conversion.
Since pizza makers have different sizing standards, there’s no single box that will fit every large pizza in the world. That said, the typical large pizza box is 16 × 16 inches for a 14-inch-wide pizza. If you have spare pizza boxes at home, about 5-1/4 of them together will measure 7 feet.
8. 2 Acoustic Guitars
The guitar didn’t always look like it does today. Older versions of the guitar—we’re talking thousands of years ago—were slimmer. The lute, which is the guitar’s ancestor, has been depicted in drawings more than 5,000 years in the past. As different as the lute and guitar appear from each other, they both have 6 strings (though other string count variations exist).
The longest common size for an acoustic guitar is about 39 inches from end to end. So, 2 of these guitars would get you to about 7 feet. If you were to use a bass guitar as a reference, you’d need slightly less than 2 of them since they are several inches longer than acoustic guitars (46 inches for this model).
