THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
 
Science 1 Physics Assignment # 1:
 
Representations, Units and Dimensions
 
Mon 11 Sept. 2000 - finish by Mon 18 Sept. 2000

1.

Web Surveys:
Complete and submit the two surveys - Learning Styles and Physics Survey - posted on our Web site.

2.

Primes:
Discuss the circumstances under which the integer 10 can be a prime
(i.e. evenly divisible by no other integers except 1 and itself).

3.

The Art of Estimation:

(a)

[easy] Without consulting any books, notes or other people, estimate the surface area of the Earth. Don't forget to include your quantitative uncertainty. In Physics this is conventionally expressed with a $\pm$ sign in the form$^\dagger$ $A \pm \delta A$.

(b)

[medium] Estimate the volume of the Science 1 lecture room in units of ns³.

(c)

[hard] Remembering that the Earth's gravitation drops off as 1/r² (where r is the distance from the centre of the Earth), estimate how long it would take a rock to fall to the Earth's surface starting from rest at an initial distance of r_i = 80,000 km. Again, don't forget to include your uncertainty. (For this one, consult all you want!)

. . . and Tipler Ch. 1, problems 6, 18, 34 (for Canada) & 37$^\ddagger$

$^\dagger$E.g. $A=(1.23\pm0.07)\times10^{11}$ m².
$^\ddagger$The answer is in the back of the book; don't peek until you try it!.