I may have solved one of life's little mysteries, after asking myself dozens of times: what is the significance of 16 inches? That is, as in "16 inches on center." You know, the standard distance between joists, studs, and other framing members in the typical house, garage, chicken coop, etc.
Maybe it began as so many measurements did: the length of some body part. Maybe the standard [male] forearm was 16 inches? I recall that a fathom (approximately 6 feet) originated as the span between the finger tips of [a man's] outstretched arms. (If I didn't recall this correctly, please don't bother to correct me. You get the idea.) But 16 inches?
The mystery has been solved. And I solved it. It seems that 16 inches is the minimum distance necessary to work between two framing members. The minimum distance to fit a drill, a 3-inch screw, two hands, AND get some muscle behind it. Yes, yes, I know that 16 inches on center probably pre-dates electric drills, but before electric there was the brace-and-bit, which also took a fair amount of space, plus screw, hands, and muscle.
How did I come to solve this incredible mystery? I decided to overbuild the floor of our chicken coop. I know it was a bit OCD, but I didn't want the floor to sag between joists. So, I drew the plans for joists 12 inches on center. The result quickly became a veritable mind puzzle ... which order do we put the pieces together so that we always have room to fasten them? We managed to do it, but it took some figuring (and a nifty modular design -- refer to pictures on Facebook). Necessity is the mother of invention.
This chicken coop project, another education in the making. wow.
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