Superlative problems

edited by

ROD CONNO NOR Texas A6M University College Station. TX 77843

Superlative Problems Hugh A. Akers and Gwyn E. Akers Lamar University Beaumont. TX

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Answers (1)

For a touch of reality (andlor absurdity) with particular aooeal for the "trivia buff," try your hand a t the following problems in unit analysis. All&oblems are based on data given in the "Guinness Book of World Records" (M. McWhirter, Bantam Books, Inc., New York, 1980). 1) The Amazon has the greatest flow of any river in the world, discharging an average of 4,200,000 cubic feet of water per second into the Atlantic Ocean. If there are 1.45 X tons of water on earth. how manv vears are reauired for the Amazon's flow to q u a i the earth'swater supp];? (Assume a densitv of 1.0 e em-3 for all "water" involved.) 2) o n e troyounce of gold, the most ductile of elements, can he drawn into a "wire" 43 miles lona. If the "aold wire" has a circular cross section, how does it compare in size to that of a "tvoical" human hair. of diameter about 0.002 in.? (The of gold is 19.3 g cnr3. One troy ounce is equivalent to about 31 g.) 3) The US. circus fat lady Mrs.Celesta Geyer, alias Dolly Dimples, in a 14-month period reduced from 553 pounds to 152 pounds. What was the rate of Dolly's average weight loss, in grams per hour? 4) The most expensive element, californium, sold for $1000 per microgram in 1968. How would the cost of 1mole of californium l a t the 1968 rice) comoare to the cost ($25,500,000,0G6l~fthe L'nikd ~ f a t e rninned s space pmgrnm t h n ~ .u.r hAoollo . XVIP How manv atoms of californium could he purchased for a US. cent? 5) The world's smallest tubina is made of oure nickel, has an outsidediameter of O.(KX)3 in.. an inside diameter of 0 00013 in., and weighs only Sounces (Awirdupois) per 100 miles of ~~

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tubine. What is the densitv of the metal tubine (in . e cm-3)? How &n you account for t