FERMI PROBLEMS WEBQUEST!

TASK 1

Answer the questions:

1.Known for     

    Demonstrating first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction

    Fermi–Dirac statistics

    Fermi's golden rule

    Fermi paradox

    Fermi method

    Fermi theory of beta decay

2.Definition of Fermi problem:

In physic or engineering education, a Fermi problem , Fermi quiz, Fermi question, Fermi estimate, or order estimation is an estimation problem designed to teach dimensional analysis or approximation and such a problem is usually a back- of- the- envelope calculation. The estimation technique is named after physicist Enrico Fermi as he was known for his ability to make good approximate calculations with little or no actual data. Fermi problems typically involve making justified guesses about quantities and their variance or lower and upper bounds.

3.Examples of typical Fermi problems

1.How many 10 years old are there are in Australia?

2.How many toothpaste do Australians use during a typical week?

3.How many kilometers of D.N.A are there in the cells of one human body?

4.How much money have your parents spent on you up until now?

5.How much money would your parents spend on you by the time you finish primary school?

TASK 2

Fermi Question LabThe lab outlined here asks students to complete five steps for each Fermi Question:

1. Question: State the question and clarify the interpretation.
2. Wild Guess: Make a wild guess involving no calculations.
3. Educated Guess: Make an educated guess involving a chain of reasoning and calculations based oneveryday experiences and estimates
4. Variables and Formulas: Define variables and create a formula to solve the Fermi question.
5. Gathering Information: Perform experiments, conduct surveys, make measurements, and search forinformation to improve estimates and to find a smallest reasonable value, a largest, reasonable value,and a most likely value for the answer to the Fermi Question.
6. Conclusions: Summarize the overall conclusions, possible sources of error, interesting facts learned,possible directions for future investigation.

TASK 4

Fermi problem:

How many liters of coffee does a person drink in the USA for a year?

Answers:

1. I think every person in the USA drink a lot of coffee, around 500 liters for a year. The reason why they drink that much coffee is the fast live they live. One cup of coffee is like 500 ml. In the USA one person drinks like 3 cups of coffee.

3*500ml=1500ml

1500ml*365=547,5l

2. One cup of coffee is around 500ml, so if he drink half a cup everyday, he will drink 250ml per day. So for a year he will drink 91,25 litres.

3. I think that an average American would drink 2 cups of coffee per day, which means 2*250ml, aproximately.  => 500 ml coffeea day(=0,5l coffee/day)

One year has 365 days => (182,500l/a year)