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Using NO outside reference sources, apply the knowledge you acquired in the "Basic Quantities Worksheet • Stage 1" and "Stage 2" to determine and record "ball park" quantities for the following measurements or quantities. Include a brief indication of how (from whom, if in a group) you determined the quantities. 1) Number of days needed for ordinary people to walk across the US (use 5 hours / day for how long they walked). 2) The pioneers typically left the area of Independence, MO, sort of in the middle of the country, and needed to get across the Great Plains, over the Rocky Mountains, and then ovoer the Cascades before winter snow trapped them before their destination in Oregon. But they couldn't start until it was spring in Missouri. Determine the "window" of times for their departure and arrival, and then some calendar dates for their timely progress along the Trail. Now determine some quantities of use in discussions of sustainable environmentalism. Key quantity: one square mile is 640 acres. 1) How big is the average US state (sq.miles)? What about the very big ones (Alaska) and the very small ones (RI, Hawaii)? 2) How big is a typical county in Oregon (sq. miles)? What about the very big ones (Harney) and the very small ones (Multnomah)? 3) How big (acres) is a major shopping mall? (Hint: How long, at the posted 10 mph limit, does it take to drive through one?) How many typical suburban homes could fit into that same area? 4) A forest fire of 10,000 is not uncommon in the American West. If we had one in Oregon, how many square miles would that be, and what percentage of the total area of the state does that represent? How does that compare to the size of that shopping center, or to a county? |