Physics Technology Update (4th Edition)

Published by Pearson
ISBN 10: 0-32190-308-0
ISBN 13: 978-0-32190-308-2

Chapter 1 - Introduction to Physics - Conceptual Questions - Page 15: 4

Answer

(a) $10^{8}~s$ (b) $10^{4}~s$ (c) $10^{0}~s$ (d) $10^{17}~s$ (e) $10^{10}~s$

Work Step by Step

Notice that you must not compute in order to find how many seconds there are in a year, in a baseball game, etc. I think that we should start with the baseball game. Its average length is around $3~hours\approx10^{4}~s$. Then, you estimate that there is time for $10^{4}$ consecutive baseball games, in a year. So $a~year\approx10^{4}\times10^{4}~s=10^{8}~s$. The duration of a heartbeat is around $1~s=10^{0}~s$. Earth is around 4.5 billion years old. $1~billion=10^{9}$, so the age of the $Earth\approx10^{9}\times10^{8}~s=10^{17}~s$. The age of a person $\approx10^{2}$ years. So, $10^{2}\times10^{8}~s=10^{10}~s$
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