Guesstimation 2.0: Solving Today's Problems on the Back of a Napkin Book

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