Orders of Magnitude

The Physics Hypertextbook™
© 1998-2008 by Glenn Elert -- A Work in Progress
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Discussion

Rose Center for Earth and Space (Planetarium) The sphere inside the planetarium is 87 foot in diameter (26.5 m)

Drake Equation

Summary

Problems

practice

  1. Write something.
    • Answer it.
  2. Write something.
    • Answer it.
  3. Drake Equation
    • Answer it.
  4. Write something completely different.
    • Answer it.

numerical

  1. For your enjoyment, here's a compendium of order of magnitude questions from the New York State Regents Exam in Physics identified by year. State the approximate value of the following quantities in SI units to the nearest order of magnitude …
    1. weight of a student
    2. height of a student
    3. [none]
    4. thickness of a piece of paper
    5. mass of a student
    6. mass of a chicken egg
    7. height of a doorknob
    8. dimensions of a classroom door
    9. mass of a nickel
    10. [none]
    11. weight of an apple
    12. length of a high school physics classroom
    13. diameter of a dinner plate
    14. mass of a physics textbook
    15. Which object weighs approximately 1 newton?: dime, paper clip, physics student, golf ball?
    16.  
      1. The maximum time allowed for the completion of this examination is approximately …
      2. A mass of one kilogram of nickels has a monetary value in United States dollars of approximately …
      3. thickness of one page of this test booklet
    17.  
      1. Which measurement of an average classroom door is closest to 1 meter: thickness, width, height, surface area?
      2. mass of a pencil 
      3. none?
    18.  
      1. mass of a high school football player
      2. width of a person's little finger
    19.  
      1. A high school physics student is sitting in a seat reading this question. The magnitude of the force with which the seat is pushing up on the student to support him is closest to …
      2. diameter of a US penny
    20.  
      1. An egg is dropped from a third-story window. The distance the egg falls from the window to the ground is closest to …
      2. height of a 12 ounce can of root beer
    21.  
      1. mass of an automobile
      2. length of a dollar bill
    22.  
      1. Which wavelength is in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum: 100 nm, 100 mm, 100 m, 100 μm?
      2. What is the approximate length of a baseball bat?
    23.  
      1. mass of a paperclip
      2. weight of a chicken egg
  2. Perform an error of magnitude calculation to determine the approximate value of the following quantities in SI units without using a calculator.
    1. surface area of a door
    2. lifetime of an average human

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