How do you wheigh a whale?

Answer 1

There is a story of a Chinese prince who proposed a solution to a similar problem.

Long story short, the emperial court was asked to measure the weight of an elephant, and nobody was able to come up with a solution. The prince had an idea and told the emperial court to meet at the pool out back. There, the elephant would be placed in a boat within the pool, and the level of the water would be taken before the elephant got into the boat and after the elephant firmly sits on the boat.

Once the elephant is removed, the prince had the boat filled up with weights until the level of water in the pool increased to resemble the level of water assigned to the elephant. From there, the weights can be mathematically calculated, and the weight of the elephant would be determined.

Answer 2

In a captive environment, like Sea World, an estimate of the weight could be

obtained by determining how much water is displace..the change in the water

level after the whale has entered compared to before.

Dead whales washed up on beaches could be lifted by crane and attached to

a very large (and strong) linear, spring loaded scale; just as small

mammals and reptiles are weighed by field researchers.

On the smaller scale, the researcher attaches the animal to be weighed

(usually in a small bag) to the scales by a clipping them together. The

person measuring then holds the scales at the end - the whole

thing "dangling" away from the researcher. I don't see why this technique

couldn't be used with a crane.

Alternatively, a whale carcass could be lifted (by crane) and dropped on

top of a stationary weighing platform.

Finally, a live or dead whale could be transported by vehicle to a truck

weigh station. By weighing and recording the truck's weight first, and

then loading the whale onboard, an accurate measurement of the whale could

be obtained.

Wild whales would not be weighed by researchers investigating the health

of a population. An experienced researcher could estimate the weight of an

individual and make notes about its appearance (ie. scars, damage,

underweight/overweight etc.) - it would be too invasive to haul whales up

the side of a ship just to know their actual mass. There is much more to

be learned about whale Biology than just the average weight of an

individual.

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2000-10/972870906.Zo.r.html With an abnormally large whale you don't put it on a scale. Measurements such as girth and length are taken and are used to calculate an approximate weight, with other factors such as age and gender also used. Or you could take it to a WHALE-WEIGH STATION! ;-) Q: Where do you go to weigh a pie? A: Somewhere over the rainbow.

Answer 3

You put it on really big scales aka your mother's. :L