Fermi Questions Marathon

[OldSpice]

Population in new york is like 1E7
Each person has at least 2 clock
So there are 2E7 clocks in NYC

How many essays are written each day by students in high schools across the United States?

I remember there being 1.5E7 high school students in America, and I'd say on average they'd write maybe 3 in a week, so thats about (3/5) per student per day, so I'd say 7.

How many pounds of peanut butter would it take to cover the entire floor of the Grand Canyon?

I'd say the volume of the GC is about 4E10 square meters?
One pound of peanut butter is like 5E-3 square meters

So its like 8E12 pounds

How many math problems are done each day by students in the United States? (elementary, middle, high) school

There are about E7 students in America, and I'd say they do about E1 problems on average per day, so E8 problems done each day.

How many text books would it take to make a stack the size of the empire state building in height.

[quizbowl]

How many text books would it take to make a stack the size of the empire state building in height.

I'd say that the empire state building is about 1/4 mile, so maybe around 1.3E3 feet,which would be around 2E4 inches.
And I'd say that each textbook is about 2E0 inches thick (I'm assuming you mean stacking them flat)

So the answer is 4.

If you started with a chunk of C-14 with its mass equal to that of the earth, how many years would it take to decay into a mass equal to that of a rubber duck?

[hmcginny]

ok so the mass of the earth is E25 kg and a rubber duck probably weighs around E-1 kg. I'll guess and say the half-life of carbon-14 is E3 years. so now what power of 2 is going to equal E26, 2^3.5 is around 10 so lets say 2^91 is E26. so 91 half lives is E4 years to decay.

If you added an atomic bomb of heat energy to a glass of room temperature water, what is its new temperature in fahrenheit?

[OldSpice]

ok so the mass of the earth is E25 kg and a rubber duck probably weighs around E-1 kg. I'll guess and say the half-life of carbon-14 is E3 years. so now what power of 2 is going to equal E26, 2^3.5 is around 10 so lets say 2^91 is E26. so 91 half lives is E4 years to decay.

If you added an atomic bomb of heat energy to a glass of room temperature water, what is its new temperature in fahrenheit?

Well iirc, the energy released by an atomic bomb is about 15 kilotons, and a kiloton is about E13 joules. A glass of water is about E-2 mL of water, grams = mL, it's E0 joules to raise the temp of 1g of water 1 degree Celsius, so about E11 degrees celcius.
While at this point the water should have evaporated long ago, if we're ignoring boiling properties, I guess it'll be around 100 billion degrees C, which I'm guessing if around the same for Fahrenheit.

How much does the statue of liberty weigh in grams?

[schylarshae]

Since the statue of liberty is around E meters tall, wide, and long, the volume is E3 cubic meters. The weight of copper is E2 kgs per cubic meter. The weight of the statue is E5 kg which gives us E8g.


How many toothpicks would it take to go around the perimeter of Alaska?

[quizbowl]

I'd say that the coastline is around 5000km, or 5E6 meters. A toothpick is probably about two inches, so about 1/20th of a meter, or 5E-2 meters. 5E6/5E-2 --> E8 toothpicks.

How many bubbles will be filled in on Scantron tests in high schools across America in a year?

[sciencegeek100]

something tells me there are too man variables to even guess on that question

or do u assume every test is 50Q or something???

[hmcginny]

3E8 people in america, E7 high school students, each student takes E1 tests per year and fills out E2 bubbles per test, so E10.

75! (i'm not super excited thats a factorial sign)

[OldSpice]

Since the last person didn't post a question with their answer, I guess I'll go ahead and ask one.

What is the volume of the pacific ocean in milliliters?

[schylarshae]

Let's assume that the Pacific Ocean in somewhere near 10,000's of kms wide and long, so -E4 and -E4 for the length and width. The ocean is about 13000 meters deep, so like -E1 km. This gives us a volume of -E9 cubic km wich converts to 1E3 cubic meters which converts to 1E2 cubic cm. The answer is -E14 cubic cm or mL.


How many pimples have American teenagers popped in the past 10 years?