Stuff That Weighs More than Me: The Race Car in the Art Gallery

Indianapolis Race Car on Display at the William Rolland Gallery at California Lutheran University.

It was somewhat surprising and also kind of cool to run into a Indy Race Car right in the middle of an Art Museum.  Then again, given the fact that the art museum is in itself part of a new sports complex at California Lutheran University, it's not so very surprising.

With William Roland at the Gallery opening.

I first saw this beauty at the grand opening of the William Rolland Gallery last weekend.  And the minute I saw it, I knew I had to have a photograph.  Why?  A) Because it is beautiful and B) Because the information card said it weighed more than me.   Here's the stats:

Length: Over 15 ft.
Width: About 6 ft.
Weight: Over 1500 lbs.

Conclusion: An Indy Race Car weighs more than me.

P.S. Want to learn about the race cars on my feet?  Click HERE!

Stuff that Weighs More than Me: Giant (Broken) Heart

The old walkthrough heart exhibit at the Science and Industry Museum

When I was a kid and my parents asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday, did I suggest roller skating parties or pony rides or cakes with pink icing roses?  Nope!  I wanted to go to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.  This was (and still is) one of the most awesome places on earth.  The museum was chock full of amazing interactive displays including a giant, plaster-of-paris heart complete with cavernous lub-dub sound effects and fabulous mood lighting.  I don't know exactly how big this bad boy was.  It certainly made an impression on me as a kid.  It was big enough to walk through.  And it was so big, that when they decided to upgrade the heart to a newer model, they couldn't remove it intact from the museum.  It was in fact broken into smaller pieces for removal (world's biggest broken heart?)  Some of the pieces were sent to some of the artists, designers and workers who built the original heart. (Yes, it was THAT awesome!)

The heart has been replaced by a brand spanking new interactive heart (world's largest heart transplant?) that features projected video simulations of the working of the heart and a handlebar that allows you to sync the beat of the giant heart with your own.  How awesome is that?  The new heart is LARGE.  I don't know exactly how much it weighs.  But it's over 13 ft. high and over 8 ft. wide and is made out of steel plate.  So I'm fairly confident in my conclusion:

The Giant Heart at the Science and Industry Museum weighs more than me.

Note: Interested in learning more about hearts?  Check out the latest post on Fat Chick Sings!

Stuff That Weighs More Than Me: World's Longest Lemonade Stand

So some kids in Michigan decided to make a lemonade stand to raise money for their school, and get into the world record book.  So they decided to make the world’s longest lemonade stand.  Each kid bought an individual stand that was about 4 ft. wide and 7ft. high.  And ultimately, they sold 350 of them.  Add that all together and you get nearly ¼ mile of lemonade stand!  (I hope you're thirsty!)

Okay, let’s do a little math to calculate the weight of this bad boy.  Each lemonade stand contained a sign 48” wide and 48” tall.  (That’s 16 square ft. of plywood)  The table top is 48” wide by 16” deep. (That’s about 5 square feet of plywood). 

*A common rule of thumb is a 4x8 foot sheet of 1/4" fir plywood weighs 25 pounds. There are 32 square feet in a sheet, so a square foot of 1/4" fir plywood weighs about 0.78 pounds.

This makes each stand approx. 15 lbs.  There were a total of 349 stands in the world’s longest lemonade stand.  So here’s the final stats:

Height: 7 ft

Length: 1400 ft.

Approximate weight per stand: 15 lbs.

Approximate weight of world’s longest lemonade stand 5,250 lbs. (excluding lemonade, stand attendant and decorations)

Conclusion: The world’s  longest lemonade stand weighs more than me.

Want to read about more people who are taking A STAND for kids?  Check out my latest post on Fat Chick Sings!