Physics, abstract
physics/0512209

From: Sanjoy Mahajan [view email]
Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 19:14:38 GMT   (29kb)

Estimating gas mileage: An example of order-of-magnitude physics

Authors: Sanjoy Mahajan
Comments: plain TeX with eplain, 12 pages, 4 figures, free/open-source license (OSL 3.0); based on a talk at the 121st AAPT National Meeting, Guelph, Ontario, 31 July 2000 (see this http URL)
Subj-class: Physics Education
I discuss how to estimate the gas mileage of a car. This discussion, which covers air resistance and Reynolds numbers, describes one way to introduce dimensional analysis and order-of-magnitude physics into introductory physics (if only the syllabus would allow it). It is part teacher's guide and part textbook chapter -- I hope not the worst parts of each.

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