Order-of-Magnitude Assignment

    This assignment is designed to give you practice making logical estimates and "order-of-magnitude" (accurate to within a factor of ten) calculations, as well as to familiarize you with the concepts of minima, maxima, mean, median, and scientific notation in calculations.

Goal:

    Answer the following questions.  Do not use books, the Internet, maps, globes, any type of measurement devices, including watches, in determining your answers for each question.  NO CALCULATORS.  For each answer, be sure that you DOCUMENT your line of reasoning, so that you can support the validity of your answers if necessary.  DO NOT GUESS!  Use S.I. units in your answers.

  1. How many blades of grass are on a football field?

  2. How many males over the age of thirty five live in Seattle?

  3. How far from the Earth is the Moon?

  4. The deficit in the Federal Budget this past year was $1.0 x 1011.  Assuming this was divided equally to every man, woman, and child in the country, what is your share of the debt?

  5. If the land area of the earth were divided up equally for each person on the planet, about how much would you get?

  6. How many drops of waters are there in all of the Great Lakes.

  7. How much air (mass) is there in the room you are in?

  8. How long does it take for an incandescent light bulb to turn off?

  9. How many flat tires are there in the US at any 1 time?

  10. What is the total amount of time high school students in the US spend each year studying for the S.A.T.?

  11. What is the length of the coastline of Washington?

Write-Up:

Lines of reasoning:

  • For each of your answers for the questions above, provide the detailed line of reasoning that you followed to reach your result.

  • Typed in 10pt Arial font.

Data Table:

  • Create a well-labeled data that includes the following:

    • Descriptive title.

    • Your group's result for each question.

    • Class minimum, maximum, median, and mean for each question.

    • Excepted values, if provided.

    • The percent error of your result for each question from either the class mean or the provided accepted value.

    • All calculated results should should be expressed using scientific notation.

    • Your table should have prominent outer, column, and column heading borders.

    • Typed in 10pt Arial font, 12pt Arial bolded column and row headings, 14pt Times New Roman bolded title.