Other Physics Commons^™

Oscillating Icebergs, John Adam

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Rock Paintings: Solutions For Fermi Questions, September 2022, John Adam

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Question 1: Snow Volume; Question 2: Longbow Arrow Velocity, Larry Weinstein

Physics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Solutions For Fermi Questions, January 2022: Question 1: Snow Volume; Question 2: Longbow Arrow Velocity, Larry Weinstein

Physics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Solutions For Fermi Questions, April 2022, Larry Weinstein

Physics Faculty Publications

[Introduction] Answer: When an asteroid hits the Earth, it transfers thermal and kinetic energy to the ground. The kinetic energy moves rock and makes a crater. We'll start by estimating the kinetic energy needed to make a crater.

Solutions For Fermi Questions, May 2022, Larry Weinstein

Physics Faculty Publications

[Introduction] Question: If the James Webb Space Telescope could be turned to face the Earth, how small an object could it resolve? How does that compare to the Hubble Space Telescope?.

To answer this, we need to know the location of the JWST, its size, and the wavelengths it can image. (This is one of those Fermi questions where we're not really estimating, but we are calculating unusual order-of-magnitude answers.) The JWST is orbiting the Earth and Sun at the second Lagrange point, L2, which is located 1.5 × 10⁶ km beyond the Earth (so that the Sun, Earth and …

Solutions For Fermi Questions, March 2021, Larry Weinstein

Physics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Question 1: Falling On A Bmw; Question 2: Recycling Contact Lenses, Larry Weinstein

Physics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Solutions For Fermi Questions, September 2021: Question 1: Cell Phone Gold, Question 2: Food For Thought, Larry Weinstein

Physics Faculty Publications

Answers to the questions: "How much gold is in a cell phone? Is it worth mining cell phones for gold?"

Solutions For Femi Questions, October 2021: Rising Water Level: Popping Many Pimples, Larry Weinstein

Physics Faculty Publications

[Introduction] How much would sea levels rise if everyone jumped in the ocean? (Thanks to Bob Friedhoffer for suggesting the problem.)

To estimate this, we need to know the number of people, the average volume of a person, and the area of the oceans. This is the kind of estimation problem where the inputs are relatively well known, and we are calculating the answer to see its order of magnitude.

There are about 7 X 10⁹ people in the world. If each person has a mass of 100 kg (in round numbers), then they each have a volume …

Question 1: Google And Pac-Man; Question 2: Magnetic Levitation, Larry Weinstein

Physics Faculty Publications

On the 30th anniversary of the introduction of the video game Pac-Man, Google created a miniature version of the game and placed it as its logo on its home page. How much total time was wasted in the United States playing this game?

(Thanks to Daniel Drill of Old Dominion University for suggesting the question.)

Animal tissue is diamagnetic. How large a magnetic field gradient is needed to levitate frogs or people?