Friday, August 22, 2008

Physics for Future Presidents

The NYTimes TierneyLab had an interesting article on what everyone, including future presidents, should know about physics. One of the questions was:

1. How does the amount of energy per gram of TNT compare with the energy per gram of a chocolate chip cookie?

(a) The TNT contains about twice as much as much energy.
(b) The TNT contains nearly 10 times more energy.
(c) The TNT contains about 1000 times more energy.
(d) The cookie contains nearly 10 times as much energy.
(e) They contain roughly equal amounts of energy

Since Google and calculators were permitted, I found this site. It refers to this text (pdf) which gives the correct answer (d) on page four. If you don't believe the answer, see the discussion on page 5.

With technology issues becoming more important in our daily lives, shouldn't we all wnt to know more about the basic science behindf our everyday lives? Prof. Mueller's course sounds fascinating. I think I'll watch some of his web-casts.