1.4 Approximation

Order-of-magnitude estimates from rough data, choosing plausible stand-in values, and judging when an answer is close enough.

College Physics 2e, 1.4 Approximation

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5 exercises

1.4 Exercise 1

Using mental math and your understanding of fundamental units, approximate the area of a regulation basketball court. Describe the process you used to arrive at your final approximation.

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1.4 Exercise 2

How many heartbeats are there in a lifetime?

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1.4 Exercise 4

How many times longer than the mean life of an extremely unstable atomic nucleus is the lifetime of a human? (Hint: The lifetime of an unstable atomic nucleus is on the order of $\text{10}^{- \text{22}} \textrm{ }\text{s}$ .)

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1.4 Exercise 6

Approximately how many atoms thick is a cell membrane, assuming all atoms there average about twice the size of a hydrogen atom?

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1.4 Exercise 8

(a) Calculate the number of cells in a hummingbird assuming the mass of an average cell is ten times the mass of a bacterium. (b) Making the same assumption, how many cells are there in a human?

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