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Central Alberta | A bushel is a volume measurement, and back in archaic times, bushel scoops were how loads of grain were measured.
When scales became the easier way to measure loads, someone did the conversion by weighing the scoops to get the standard weight of a bushel of grain. Probably the size of the scoops had gotten smaller over the years, therefore some of the bushel weights seem unrealistically light.
Of course nowadays, weight is the preferred mode of measurement of a commodity such as grain, and the bushel weights are simply a throwback to a time when bushel volume were more important than the weight of a load of grain. We still use bushel-weight to determine grain density, because it's easier to visualize than something like "pounds per cubic foot" of kilograms per cubic meter."
One thing we've learned is that no matter what the official standards are, people will continue to use their favorite units. Here in Canada, we officially converted to metric in the 80s, but the old measurements still persist. | |
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Help me understand this bushel question
