Back-of-the-Envelope Calculations: Velocity of Asteroids part of Quantitative Skills:Activity Collection
Barb Tewksbury, Hamilton College
Question Asteroids zip through space at truly astounding velocities. Let's try to put that into perspective. It took the Apollo astronauts about 3 days to travel from the Earth to the Moon. a) If you could ...

Back-of-the-Envelope Calculations: Comparing Jupiter with Earth part of Quantitative Skills:Activity Collection
Barb Tewksbury, Hamilton College
Question Below, you'll see a drawing of Jupiter showing the Great Red Spot, as well as several of the dark scars, like enormous black eyes, left as a result of the impact of fragments of the comet ...

Back-of-the-Envelope Calculations: Surface Area of the Moon vs. Earth part of Quantitative Skills:Activity Collection
Barb Tewksbury, Hamilton College
Question If you could wrap the Moon in a gigantic cloth and then unwrap the cloth and spread it out on the Earth, how much of the Earth's surface would it cover?

Back-of-the-Envelope Calculations: Volume of the Earth and Sun part of Quantitative Skills:Activity Collection
Barb Tewksbury, Hamilton College
Question Suppose you and your friends wanted to make a scale model of the Earth and the Sun. You start by cutting a one-inch cube of Play-Doh to represent the volume of the Earth. - How many one-inch Play-Doh cubes ...

Back-of-the-Envelope Calculations: Position and Dimensions of the Moon part of Quantitative Skills:Activity Collection
Barb Tewksbury, Hamilton College
Question Suppose you could scale the Earth down to the size of your head. At that scale, how big would the Moon be, and how far away would it be from your head?

Back-of-the-Envelope Calculations: Communication with Mars part of Quantitative Skills:Activity Collection
Barb Tewksbury, Hamilton College
Question Suppose you were living in a Mars colony, and you wanted to call home to your parents on Earth. You say, "Hello! How are you?" How long do you have to wait until you hear them say, ...

Back-of-the-Envelope Calculations: Size of KT Meteorite part of Quantitative Skills:Activity Collection
Barb Tewksbury, Hamilton College
Question About 66 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous Period, a meteorite estimated to have been about 10 km in diameter slammed into the Earth. Let's put the size of this cosmic cannonball into ...

Back-of-the-Envelope Calculations: Orbital Distance Scale part of Quantitative Skills:Activity Collection
Barb Tewksbury, Hamilton College
Question Let's imagine a scale model of the Earth with an orbiting Space Shuttle. Suppose that the Earth is the size of a basketball. How far above the basketball does the Shuttle orbit?

Back-of-the-Envelope Calculations: The Right Eye of the Man in the Moon part of Quantitative Skills:Activity Collection
Barb Tewksbury, Hamilton College
Question The "right eye" of the Man in the Moon is really Mare Imbrium, the central portion of a gigantic multi-ring basin formed by a colossal meteorite impact several billion years ago. Which of the ...

Back-of-the-Envelope Calculations: Eruption Rates part of Quantitative Skills:Activity Collection
Barb Tewksbury, Hamilton College
Question Over the last 70 million years or so, the Hawaiian Hot Spot has been pumping out lava, a total of about 775,000 km3 worth. As the Pacific Plate has moved over the hot spot, the volcanic peaks and plateaus ...