Description

Class Summary

How many grains of sand are on a beach? How long would it take to climb a ladder to the moon? How much does the Atlantic Ocean weigh? What modifications would need to be made to our bodies if we were 50 feet tall? Enrico Fermi was renowned for his ability to distill complex problems into workable ones by making quick estimates, performing “back of the envelope” calculations, and examining how one physical quantity “scales” with another. We’ll explore some of the ways to do this and estimate the answers to some of the above questions and more!

About the Instructor

Jeremy Carlo, Ph.D. is an associate professor of physics at Villanova University. He earned his undergraduate degree in physics and mathematics at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. in physics at Columbia University. His research involves “quantum materials” in which quantum mechanical interactions determine their magnetic and electronic behavior.