Guesstimation 2.0

Lawrence Weinstein is University Professor of Physics at Old Dominion University. He is the coauthor of Guesstimation: Solving the World's Problems on the Back of a Cocktail Napkin (Princeton). Patricia Edwards is senior lecturer in art at Old Dominion University. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, she lives in Norfolk, Virginia.

Acknowledgments xi Preface xiii 1 How to Solve Problems 1 2 General Questions 11 *2.1 Who unrolled the toilet paper? 13 *2.2 Money height 17 *2.3 Blotting out the Sun 19 *2.4 Really extra-large popcorn 21 *2.5 Building volume 25 *2.6 Mass of money 29 *2.7 A baseball in a glass of beer 33 *2.8 Life on the phone 37 *2.9 Money under the bridge 41 *2.10 Monkeys and Shakespeare 45 *2.11 The titans of siren 49 *2.12 Airheads at the movies 53 *2.13 Heavy cars and heavier people 55 *2.14 Peeing in the pool 59 3 Recycling: What Really Matters? 63 *3.1 Water bottles 67 *3.2 99 bottles of beer on the wall ... 71 *3.3 Can the aluminum 75 *3.4 Paper or plastic? 79 *3.5 Paper doesn't grow on trees! 83 *3.6 The rain in Spain ... 87 *3.7 Bottom feeders 91 *3.8 You light up my life! 95 4 The Five Senses 101 *4.1 Don't stare at the Sun 103 *4.2 Men of vision 105 *4.3 Light a single candle 109 *4.4 Oh say can you see? 113 *4.5 Bigger eyes 117 *4.6 They're watching us! 121 *4.7 Beam the energy down, Scotty! 125 *4.8 Oh say can you hear? 131 *4.9 Heavy loads 135 5 Energy and Work 139 *5.1 Power up the stairs 143 *5.2 Power workout 145 *5.3 Water over the dam 149 *5.4 A hard nut to crack 153 *5.5 Mousetrap cars 155 *5.6 Push hard 159 *5.7 Pumping car tires 161 *5.8 Pumping bike tires 165 *5.9 Atomic bombs and confetti 169 6 Energy and Transportation 173 *6.1 Gas-powered humans 177 *6.2 Driving across country 181 *6.3 Keep on trucking 185 *6.4 Keep on biking 189 *6.5 Keep on training 193 *6.6 Keep on flying 197 *6.7 To pee or not to pee 201 *6.8 Solar-powered cars 205 *6.9 Put a doughnut in your tank 209 *6.10 Perk up your car 213 *6.11 Don't slow down 217 *6.12 Throwing tomatoes 219 7 Heavenly Bodies 223 *7.1 Orbiting the Sun 227 *7.2 Flying off the Earth 229 *7.3 The rings of Earth 233 *7.4 It is not in the stars to hold our destiny 237 *7.5 Orbiting a neutron star 241 *7.6 How high can we jump? 245 *7.7 Collapsing Sun 249 *7.8 Splitting the Moon 253 *7.9 Splitting a smaller moon 257 *7.10 Spinning faster and slower 263 *7.11 Shrinking Sun 267 *7.12 Spinning Earth 271 *7.13 The dinosaur killer and the day 273 *7.14 The Yellowstone volcano and the day 277 *7.15 The orbiting Moon 281 *7.16 The shortest day 283 8 Materials 289 *8.1 Stronger than spider silk 291 *8.2 Beanstalk to orbit 295 *8.3 Bolt failure 299 *8.4 Making mountains out of molecules 303 *8.5 Chopping down a tree 307 9 Radiation 311 *9.1 Nuclear neutrinos 315 *9.2 Neutrinos and you 319 *9.3 Solar neutrinos 323 *9.4 Supernovas can be dangerous 327 *9.5 Reviving ancient bacteria 331 *9.6 Decaying protons 335 *9.7 Journey to the center of the galaxy 337 Appendix A * Dealing with Large Numbers 341 * A.1 Large Numbers 341 * A.2 Precision, Lots of Digits, and Lying 343 * A.3 Numbers and Units 345 Appendix B * Pegs to Hang Things On 347 Bibliography 351 Index 355