Metric Madness: World Building

Some Useful Notes, in making your detailed equipment lists.

• A regular backpack is surprisingly a small 16L in volume.
• Typically When you Double the Volume of a Container you increase the enclosed surface area by x~1.578.
• If you increase Volume by 50% that is an increase of surface area of x~1.31
• 1 liter or 1,000cc of Wood (default African Mahogany) is ~0.45kg to ~0.85kg
• one of the denser woods available is ~0.9kg to 1L
• the densest wood is ~1.5kg to 1L
• A link of Useful Wood densities
• the density of leather Leather is ~0.76kg to 1,000cc or 1L
• Earthenware is ~2kg per 1000cc (same as bricks)
• Iron and Bronze is about ~7.8kg per 1000cc
• Steel is ~7kg to 1,000cc
• Body Surface Area of a 150lbs 5'9" person is 1.822sq m
• Only 2 sources of cloth in the ancient era: Wool and Flaxen Weaves (rough spun to fine linen). Amount of Coverages determined Social Status.
• In an ancient world setting, Wicker and Woven straw materials are the common substitute to leather and cloth. Leather was expensive.
• 706 sq cm shield (1' diameter target sized) 1" thick made of mahogany would weigh about 0.86kg. Plus its 5" diameter 2mm bronze boss 0.197kg, that would make a total of 2.2kg target shield.
• Before Stoneware, Coopers, and the high availability of leather through trade, storing supplies on ships were in mostly in heavy earthenware jars. They were porous and mildly waterproofed with glaze and paints, preventing efficient storage. Wooden Boxes and Casks were few and rare. Thick woven basket cases protected the fragile pots, along with stuffings of hay and grass.
• Area of a Torso about 7,150sq cm (using the larger medium size). w/ 2mm thick of leather it weighs about 2kg (4lbs). In GURPS and OSRIC where the leather armor weighs 10lbs (4.55kg), that would make the leather 4.55mm thick on average. Thicker by 100% to 50% on vitals (9-6mm or 1/3 inch) and less 50% on joints (2mm).
• Mail, at 4.55kg, that is 0.636g per sq cm. Assuming mail is a centimeter thick on average (not the individual rings) all together, then that is about 636g per 1000cc (of 2mm thick rings).
• Bone Density is 1.5kg per 1000cc or Liters or 0.001 cubic meters. Interesting, only black ironwood is as dense as bone. Ivory shafted maces or axes, polished, engraved and lacquered.