Chapter 1

Exercise Solutions

1 in 2.54 cm
1. a) 2.54 cm
or 1 in

1.6 km 1 mi
b) 1 mi
or 1.6 km

60 arcmin 3600 arcsec

c) 3600 arcsec
or 60 arcmin

× 2.54 cm
2. in.
a) 12  1i
n.
= 12 × 2.54 cm = 30.5 cm

× 1 in. 100
b) 100 
cm 2.54 cm
 = 2.54
in. = 39 in.

× 1 mi. 380,000
km
c) 380, 000  1.6 
km
 = 1.6
mi. = 240, 000 mi.

× 1.6 km
d) 93, 000, 000 
mi. 1mi.
 = 150, 000, 000 km

× 3600 arcsec
e) 0.5 
deg 1
deg
 = 1, 800 arcsec

3. a) A 1-foot ruler marked with both inches and cm has exactly 12 inches
and just over 30 cm.
b) 100 cm is about 3 times the previous answer, and 39 inches is about
3 times the previous one also.
c) The number of miles, 240,000, is a little smaller than the number
of kilometers, 380,000. This makes sense becuase the distance uni
miles is slightly larger than the distance unit kilometers (1 mile is

1
2 CHAPTER 1. EXERCISE SOLUTIONS

equivalent to 1.5 kilometers), so there should be slightly fewer miles

to express the same distance as there are kilometers.
d) This is the same as the previous part (c) explanation, but reversed.
Since the distance unit kilometers is slightly smaller than the dis-
tance unit miles (becaue it takes 1.6 km to make up just 1 mi),
there should be slightly more kilometers than miles to express the
same distance. And just as the conversion factor shows, it is not a
lot more (1.6 compared to 1), ut a comparable amount. So it makes
sense that both answers are in the millions. It is only about half
again as many km as miles.
e) Drawing directly from the conversion factor, or equivalence relation
deg ↔ 3600 arcsec, half as many degrees (0.5) should equal half as
many arcseconds (1800).

mi. 1.6 
km 1000 
m 1hr 60×1.6×1000 m
4. a) 60

hr

× 1m

i
× 1km
 × 3600 sec
= 3600 sec
= 27 m/s

 × 24 
hrs 3600 sec
b) 1 
day  × = 86, 400 sec

1day 1hr

or, splitting the hours → seconds conversion,

hrs
 × 24  60 
min
× 60 sec
1
day  ×  = 86, 400 sec (same answer)
 
1day 1hr 1min

c) Assume 1 dollar since no other number was given:

1
dollar 100 cents 1 kg
= 0.1 cents

× ×

kg 1
dollar
 1000 g g

 × 1760 
y d
× 12 
3 ft i
n.
× 130step 1760×3×12
d) 1 
mile  × 1 y = steps = 2100 steps
 
1
mile d 1 ft  i
n.
 30

1 ft 2 1 ft2
in2 × 1
ft2 = 0.0069 ft2


5. a) 1  12 in
= 122
= 144

 3
ft3 ×
b) 1  12 in
1 ft
= 123 in3 = 1730 in3

100 cm 2


m2 ×
c) 1  1m
= 1002 cm2 = 10, 000 cm2
 3
yd3 ×
d) 1  3 ft
1
y
 d
= 33 ft3 = 27 ft3
 3
 
N 1 kg2m 1 kg 
m 1 1 kg
6. a) 1m2
× s
1
N
= s2
× = m s2
m2
 
1 kg2m 1 m kg m
 
1 kg
1 m
J3 1
Nm
=  3s2 =


b) × 1

J
× s
1
N m s2
m

Note that this is the same answer as (a). Thus the dimensions of
pressure (force per area) are equivalent to those of energy density
(energy per volume).

7. R = 6371 km (the average radius of the Earth) for all exercises here:

a) C = 2πR = 2π(6371 km) = 40,000 km

b) SA = 4πR2 = 4π(6371 km)2 = 510,000,000 km2

c) V = 43 πR3 = 34 π(6371 km)3 = 1,080,000,000,000 km3

or 1.08 × 1012 km3 (scientific notation is covered in Section 1.4)

8. a) subtraction: 452 m - 1.7 m = 450.3 m. Therefore the building is

450.3 meters taller than a person.

division: (452 m)/(1.7 m) = 266. Therefore the building is 266

times taller than a person.

Division is more useful in this case because the umbers are not com-
parable in size. If you don’t have a sense of how big 452 meters is,
the result of subtraction (450.3 m) doesn’t help give you that sense.
However, saying that the building is 266 times larger does help give
you that sense, because you can try to picture a couple hundred
people stacked head to toe.

b) subtraction: 220 lbs - 195 lbs = 25 lbs. The man lost 25 pounds,
or he used to weigh 25 lbs more.

division: (220 lbs)/(195 lbs) = 1.13 (or 113%).

4 CHAPTER 1. EXERCISE SOLUTIONS

Both methods are useful here. If you are familiar with the unit
pounds for measuring weight, then you have a sense that 25 pounds
is a substantial amount of weight – equivalent to about 3 gallons
(11 liters) of water at Earth’s surface, or the weight of a 2-year-old
child. Subtraction helps you picture that amount of weight lost.

Division gives you a sense of how that lost weight compares to the
man’s total weight. It was 13% more, which is a substantial but
not dominant fraction of his original weight.

c) subtraction: 200,000,000,000 stars - 400,000 stars = 199,999,600,000

more stars.

division: (200,000,000,000 stars) / (400,000 stars) = 500,000 (half

a million) times more.

Division is more useful here. The two numbers are so vastly differ-
ent (by 6 orders of magnitude) that subtraction gives you essentially
the same number you started with.

9. RSun = 109REarth for the following parts:

a) C = 2πR, from Exercise 1.7

CSun 2πR
 Sun 109 
REarth
 
=  =  = 109
CEarth 2πREarth REarth
 

Therefore CCEarth
Sun
= 109, or CSun = 109 CEarth . (The Sun’s circum-
ference is 109 times larger than Earth’s.)

b) SA = 4πR2 , from Exercise 1.7.

2 2
 2
 
SASun 4πR RSun 109 
REarth
 
=  2Sun = = 1092 = 12, 000

=
SAEarth 4πREarth REarth REarth
 

SASun
Therefore SA Earth
= 12, 000. (The Sun’s surface area is 12,000 times
larger than Earth’s.)
 5

c) V = 34 πR3 , from Section 1.2.3.

4 3 3
πR3
 
VSun RSun 109 
REarth
 
= 43 3Sun = = = 1093 = 1, 300, 000
VEarth 3
πREarth REarth REarth
 

Therefore VVEarth
Sun
= 1, 300, 000. (The Sun’s volume is 1.3 million
times larger than Earth’s.)

Ca 1 1
10. a) Cb
= 109 , so Ca = 109 Cb . The circumference of object “a” is 109
times smaller than (or 1/109th as large as) object “b”, so “b” is
bigger by 109 times.

OR Cb = 109 Ca . The circumference of object “b” is 109 times

larger than the circumference of object “a”, so again “b” is bigger.

b) SA1
SA2
= 11,900
1
, so SA1 = 11, 900 SA2 . The surface area of object 1 is
11,900 times that of object 2. So object 1 is bigger.

Vj 1 1
c) Vk
= 1.3×106 , so Vj = 1.3×106 Vk OR Vk = 1.3 × 106 Vj . The volume
of object k is 1.3 million times that of object j. So object k is bigger.

11. v ∝ d, so v = H0 d where H0 is a constant of proportionality.

dz = 50 Mpc
dy = 800 Mpc

vz H0 dz 50 Mpc 50 1
= = = = = .0625
vy H0 dy 800 Mpc 800 16
vz 1
= , or vy = 16 vz . Galaxy y is moving 16 times as fast as z.
vy 16

12. f = λc , from this section.

fUV = 100 fIR

6 CHAPTER 1. EXERCISE SOLUTIONS

c c
Rearrange f = λ
→ λ= f

c
λUV fUV c fUV fIR fIR
 1
= c =
× = =  =
λIR fIR
fIR c
fUV 100 
fIR
 100

So, λλUV
IR
1
= 100 : The wavelength of infrared light is 100 times larger than
that of ultraviolet.

13. Fg ∝ R12 , or Fg ∝ Rz2 , from this section, where z is an arbitrary propor-

tionality constant and we are ignoring mass (only considering distance,
R).

near moon distance = dnear

far moon distance = dfar ; dfar = 3dnear

Fg, near z/d2near z
d2far d2far (3 )2

dnear
= = × = = = 9.
Fg, far z/d2far d2near z
d2near d2near
 

So, FFg,g,near
far
= 9, or Fg, near = 9Fg, far : The closer moon experiences 9 times
stronger gravity than the farther moon.

distance
14. Eq. 1.11: time = speed

speed = 100 km/h

 × 1.6 km =112 km


distance = 70 
miles 1
m
i
(A unit conversion gave distance in units that matched the“km” in
“km/h” of speed units.)

distance 112 
km
time = speed
= 100 

km/hr
 = 1.12 hr

15. Eq. 1.9: distance = speed × time

speed = 29.8 km/s

 7

time = 1   × 60 sec = 60 sec

min

1
min

(A unit conversion brought the time units into agreement.)

distance = speed × time = (29.8 km

s
) × (60
s) = 1788 km

Converting this answer to meters gives 1788  × 1000 m = 1.8 × 106 m,

km 1km

or just under 2 million meters.

16. amount = 217 pages

time = 8   × 60 min
hours  = 480 minutes
1hour

rate = ?

rate = amount
time
= 217 pages
480 min
= 0.45 pages/min (or equivalently, 2.2 minutes
per page, which is the inverse)

17. rate = 0.45 pages/min

amount = 350 pages

amount
time = rate
(Eq. 1.13)

Using the absolute method,

time = 0.45350 pages
= 778 minutes, or almost 13 hours.
 
pages/min
 

Using the ratio method, which would be convenient if you had not al-
ready calculated the rate in problem 1.16,
timelong amountlong /rate amountlong
= =
timeshort amountshort /rate amountshort
   
amountlong 350 pages
timelong = timeshort = 8 hrs = 12.9 hours,
amountshort 217 pages
the same answer as with the absolute method.
8 CHAPTER 1. EXERCISE SOLUTIONS

18. a) 6022 × 1020

b) 0.91 × 10−6

c) For part (a), divide coefficient by 103 (or 1000), and multiply 1020
by 103 to compensate: 6.022 × 1023

For part (b), multiply coefficient by 101 (or 10), and divide 10−6 by
101 to compensate: 9.1 × 10−7

19. a) 3, 300 = 3.3 × 103

b) −3, 300 = −3.3 × 103
c) 100, 000, 000, 000 = 1.0 × 1011 , or 1 × 1011 , or just 1011
d) 0.0000000048 = 4.8 × 10−9
e) −0.0000000048 = −4.8 × 10−9

20. a) 9.3 × 107 = 93, 000, 000

b) −9.3 × 107 = −93, 000, 000
c) 9.3 × 10−7 = 0.00000093
d) 10, 000, 000 = 1 × 107
e) 10×107 = 100, 000, 000 (ten times bigger than the previous number,
so one more decimal place)
f) 107 = 10, 000, 000 (identical to 1 × 107 in part (d) above)
g) 5.2 × 100 = 5.2

21. a) 3, 000, 000

b) 3 × 106

c) twelve trillion
d) 12 × 1012 or 1.2 × 1013

e) one hundred thousand

 9

f) 100, 000

g) 500, 000, 000 (in words, also five hundred million)

h) 0.5 × 109 , or 5 × 108

i) ninety-five
j) 9.5 × 101

22. a) (3 × 105 ) × 104 = 3 × 105+4 = 3 × 109

b) (6 × 10−6 ) × (3 × 104 ) = (6 × 3) × (10−6+4 ) = 18 × 10−2 or, equiva-

lently 1.8 × 10−1 , or 0.18

6×10−6
c) 3×104
= 6
3
× 10−6−4 = 2 × 10−10

6×106 6
d) 1×104
= 1
× 106−4 = 6 × 102

23. a) integer rounding: (1.23×105 )×(4.56×104 ) ≈ (1×105 )×(5×104 ) =

5 × 109
R.O.M. estimation: 105 × 105 = 1010

−6 −6
b) integer rounding: 9.87×10
6.54×104
≈ 10×10
7×104
= 10
7
× 10−6−4 = 10
7
× 10−10 ≈
−10
1 × 10 (rounding coefficient)
−5
R.O.M. estimation: 10105 = 10−5−5 = 10−10 (same answer)
−6 4 −6 4)
14×10−2
c) integer rounding: (6.6×10 )×(2.2×10 )
(1.8×104 )2
≈ (7×10 4×10
)×(2×10
8 = 4×108
=
7 −10 −10
2
× 10 ≈ 4 × 10
−5 4 −1
R.O.M. estimation: 10(10×10
4 )2 = 10108 = 10−9

24. a) (2×10−4 )4 = 24 ×(10−3 )4 = 16×10(−3×4) = 16×10−12 = 1.6×10−11

−1
b) (4 × 1014 )−1/2 = 4−1/2 × (1014 )−1/2 = 1
41/2
× 10(14× 2
)
= 1
2
× 10−7 =
0.5 × 10−7 = 5 × 10−8
√ 1
c) 3
1 × 10−15 = (1 × 10−15 )1/3 = 11/3 × 10(−15× 3 ) = 1 × 10−5