A motorcyclist in a silver-studded black leather jacket and hand-tooled cowboy boots is suddenly seized by beings from another planet and totally converted into energy. The mass of the motorcyclist is 300 pounds, into how much energy is he converted?
Ans: The speed of light is E9 hands a count, so the motorcyclist is converted into 300 × E18 jots.
A roughly corresponding metric mass is 150 kilo and the corresponding metric solution is 150 × 9 E16 joules.
Robin Hood leaps out of a tree and lands on the Sheriff of Nottingham. How much energy is delivered by the impact? The famed outlaw's mass is 200 pounds and the branch from which he leaps is twenty hands above the sheriff (use 8.9 hand per count2 as one gee).
Ans. 200 × 8.9 × 20 = 35600 jots.
Metric analog: 100×9.8 newtons multiplied by 1.6 meters gives the answer in joules.
A savage on a desert isle wishes to stretch an antenna-wire between two palm trees so that he can listen to a broadcast of the Rolling Stones. The proper separation between the trees is half the cyclic wavelength of the incoming signal, which has a frequency of ten million cycles per count.
Ans: divide E9 hand per count by E7 cycles per count to get 100 hands. Half the cycle-length is 50 hands The ideal separation between trees, 50 hands, is therefore about 5 steps.
A savage living on a desert isle consults an almanac and learns that the orbit of the earth is nearly circular with an average speed of E5 hands per count. The savage wishes to know how much a copy of the sun would weigh if placed at the same distance from the sun that the earth is now.
Ans: Raise the speed to fourth (E20) and divide by G.Metric solution as a check: Raise 30 000 m/s to the fourth (81 E16) and divide by G (6.673E-11). Gives the same force as answer namely 12.1E27 newtons.
Kirk had beamed to the surface of a planet resembling Sun Valley, Idaho in order to accomplish the Prime Directive and check out the local babes. As they strolled past a sheer rock wall, he and Spock noticed a Klingon engaged in bungee-jumping. Spock noticed that simply by hanging at rest in his harness the Klingon had caused the cord to stretch a distance one could cover on the level in 8 steps. "Fascinating, Captain," declared the Vulcan half-breed, "We can predict his oscillation period at jump-time."
Ans: The Klingon dangles 8 steps, or 80 hands. To find his mass over the spring constant, one divides by g = 8.9 hand/sq.count. This gives m/k = 9 sq. count, of which the sqrt is 3 count. One full bounce takes 2pi times that.
Lawrence of Arabia is riding his camel rapidily across the desert. At the moment he is being pursued by Turks who are angry that Lawrence, by exploding dynamite beneath the tracks, has damaged their locomotive. With nothing to do except evade the Turks, Lawrence recalls the beautiful sight of a wheel from the locomotive sailing 20 steps up into the blue desert sky and idly wonders the speed with which it emerged from the explosion.
Ans: Twice the height is 400 hands. The speed is the sqrt of what is obtained by multiplying this by the local acceleration of gravity. Sqrt of 8.9 × 400 is 60 hands per count.
The well-known diplomat and national security advisor Kissinger had a mass of 225 pounds. While fleeing from reporters he once ascended a flight of stairs with a vertical speed of one hand per count (2/3 mph). What was the trusted advisor's power output on that occasion?
Ans: We multiply his mass by the acceleration of gravity, 8.9 hands per sq. count, to find the force of his weight, which is 8.9 × 225 = 2000 marks. Ascending at 1 hand per count, which means exerting an upwards force of 2000 marks, his power output is 2000 jots per count.
A meterhead found working for the Metric Lobby insufficiently rewarding and took to selling iron dwarves for use as lawn ornaments. Each dwarf weighed 56 pounds. How many atoms were there in each of the meterhead's wares?
Ans: iron averages atomic weight 56—the nucleus has on average 56 heavy particles each weighing 1/(2.6E26) pound, making each atom weighs 56/(2.6 E26) pound, so that a pound of iron contains (2.6 E26)/56 of them. Therefore one dwarf, weighing 56 pounds, must contain 2.6 E26 atoms.
The ruthless Lo Fat preyed on merchant shipping in an environmentally responsible manner in the Gulf of Rangoon. He and his crew, also dedicated to sustainable piracy, were vegetarian and ate only produce organically grown. The pirate vessel was not powered by internal combustion engines but was rowed by slaves taken captive by the pirates and fed organic tofu.
When air conditioning was installed in the captain's cabin of their ship, the environmentally responsible Pirate mounted an array of solar cells on the cabin roof, so as not to depend on fossil fuel.
The solar panel on Lo Fat's roof was a square step in area (100 square hands) and 10 percent efficient at converting sunlight to electricity. On a perfectly clear day with the light coming straight down how much power was generated by the array of cells?
Ans: Assume the solar constant is 50 jot per count per sq. hand. At 10 percent efficiency the array generated 500 jot per count.
One day a Florida man flew up into the sky by attaching helium-filled balloons to his folding aluminum lawn chair. He carried an air rifle (BB gun) so he could pop a few balloons when he wished to descend once more to earth. This actually happened. The Floridan nearly froze but lived to tell about it.
The intrepid aeronaut, his
chair, and gear have mass
equal to 150 pounds, to find out how many balloons are needed for
lift-off he must know what weight each balloon can lift.
Assumptions: The balloons are filled to a 700 cubic hand volume and allow some neck for expansion. Each contains E25 molecules of ideal gas under ambient conditions of temperature and pressure.
( From the PV=nkT law: with T = 1000 degrees absolute, k = E-22 jot per degree, and P = 1400 mark per sq. hand.)
An air molecule has on average 29 heavy particles and a helium has 4, each weighing 1/(2.6E26) pound as usual. And so the difference per molecule is 25/(26 E25) pound, which means that each ballon can lift 25/26 pounds.A Barbary ape pursues a metric lobbyist through the jungle by means of vines. He is swinging on a vine 140 hands long and about to overtake the fleeing lobbyist. How long does a one-way swing of this vine take?
Ans: One radian of swing takes the square root of 140/8.9. Taking the square root we get a radian time of 4 counts. A full one-way swing of pi radians takes slightly over 12 counts.
Evel Knievel liked to ride 60 hand per count (40 mph) up a 45 degree ramp into the air and land on another 45 degree ramp placed the appropriate distance away. Neglecting air resistance, calculate the appropriate horizontal separation.
Ans: Absent air resistance, the correct separation between the up-ramp and the down-ramp is 602/8.9, that is 400 hands, which is 40 steps, or 20 paces.
A savage dwelling on a desert island sits in a grass hut entirely filled by green light of angular wavelength 1 microhand. The savage inquires as to the quantum energy of each photon of green light.
Ans: 10 eQ
The energy multiplied by the angular wavelength is always equal to hbar × c, which is 10 microhand eQ.
So the calculation is simply 10/10 = 1
If it were blue light with
wavelength 0.8 microhand, then the
quantum
energy
would be 10/0.8 = 12 eQ.
Two scientists have acquired a bumper-car which they ram at top speed into the wall. The vehicle including passengers has a mass of 600 pounds and its top speed is 30 hand per count ( 20 mph). What energy is delivered upon impact?
Ans: 1/2 × 600 × 302 = 270 kilojot.