Hidden Content Control Panel: Reveal All | Hide All

S0.3 Numbers

[A] Order of magnitude

Example

Reveal
Hide

Example

Does your mass affect the trajectory of your snooker ball?

The physics:

\[F = \frac{G M m}{r^2} \]

Help?

Help?

This is the gravitational force law; we will explore it more fully in S2.11
 

The estimates:

your mass M102 kg
ball mass m10-1 kg
separation r1 m
gravitational constant G10-10 N m2 kg-2

The conclusion: F10-9 N …which seems negligible

 
XAbout things that are `small`...and the butterfly

[B] Precision

ISome very precise numbers
TRounding correctly

Learning Resources

Course Questions:
Self-Test Questions: