Talk Like A Physicist

Talk Like A Physicist March 14, 2008

Talk Like a Physicist day - March 14 2008

Why March 14th?

It is Einstein’s Birthday!
It is the International Pi Day!

Adjust your frequency and stay tuned!

How long of a thread do you need to weave a bed sheet?

 TGIF and time for Friday Fermi Problem :

Fermi Problem is described as:

In physics, particularly in physics education, a Fermi problem, Fermi question, or Fermi estimate is an estimation problem designed to teach dimensional analysis, approximation, and the importance of clearly identifying one’s assumptions. Named for 20th century physicist Enrico Fermi, such problems typically involve making justified guesses about quantities that seem impossible to compute given limited available information.

This is one of the simplest Fermi problems.

Simple Fermi Problem: What is the total length of the thread in a bed sheet?
or
How long of a thread would you need to weave/make a bedsheet?

No, you may not ask “what is the size of the bedsheet?” - look around, make an educated guess about the average size of a bedsheet.

No, you may not ask “what is the thread count of the bedsheet?” - figure out the most common thread count. If you can not figure it out, you can go to the bedroom and guesstimate the length of the thread in a square inch.

Answer is in the comments.

Physics Rap - that’s exactly why… I’m a physics guy!

So, here’s the story from alpha to zeta,
eta, theta, iota to omega.
If you got a quantity to quantify,
it sounds cooler in Greek… don’t ask me why!

Complete lyrics after the gap.

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