Ithaca College Name:

Department of Physics & Astronomy

Introduction to Physics (PHYS 101) Group:
Fall 2018 Date:
Homework 1

Instructions: Complete all work on separate paper. Be sure to include your name and group number (not
just table number). You do not need to include a printed version of the questions with your homework.

Special note: Many of these questions involve unit conversions. Since you will be responsible for unit
conversions in testing environments, you should know how to calculate these conversions. Do not simply rely
on Google to do the conversion for you! Instead, show all calculations on your homework to receive credit.
You may find the following unit conversions useful:

1.00 yard = 3.00 ft = 0.914 m,

1.00 in = 2.54 cm,

1.00 mile = 1.61 km

1. Frédérick Bousquet set the world record in the 50 m freestyle by swimming an average speed of
8.6 km/hr, which is the fastest recorded speed of a human swimming.
(a) Convert his speed to miles per hour. (For this and all questions on homework assignments, use
the tools that we discussed in class and show your work.)
(b) Calculate his speed in m/s.
2. The length of a football field is 100. yards. Calculate the length of a football field in ...
(a) feet.
(b) inches.
(c) meters.
(d) centimeters. (Write your final answer in scientific notation.)
3. Let us analyze your height in various units.
(a) What is your height in feet and inches?
(b) What is your height in inches (only)?
(c) Calculate your height in cm.
(d) Calculate your height in meters.
(e) The height of a standard doorway is approximately 2.0 m. Use this fact to discuss whether or not
your answer to part (d) makes sense.
4. The speed of light is 3.0 × 108 m/s. Determine the speed of light in miles per hour. Write your final
answer using scientific notation.
5. A standard (square) bandana measures 22.0 in × 22.0 in.
(a) Calculate the surface area of the bandana in in2 (sometimes written as “square inches,” or “sq.
in.”).
(b) Use your answer to (a) to convert the surface area from in2 to cm2 .
(c) Determine the length of each side in cm.

1
 (d) Use your answer to part (c) to calculate the surface area of the bandana in cm2 . In other words,
use the fact that
area in cm2 = (length in cm)(length in cm).
(e) Do your answers for parts (b) and (d) match? Should they? Why or why not?

6. (a) A patient’s blood pressure is measured to be 128 ± 3 mm Hg. What is the percent uncertainty?
(b) Using the same apparatus, another patient’s blood pressure is measured to be 87 mm Hg. Assum-
ing the same percent uncertainty, what is the uncertainty in the second patient’s blood pressure?

In the questions below, be sure that your answers reflect the appropriate number of significant figures.

7. Suppose that a person has an average heart rate of 76.0 beats/min. How many beats does he or she
have in...
(a) 3.0 years? Hint: You may want to start by converting the average heart rate to beats/year,
keeping in mind that there are 365.25 days in one year. You will need to use scientific notation
to incorporate the appropriate number of sig figs.
(b) 3.00 years?
(c) 3.000 years?
8. For each of the following, perform the calculation. State how many significant figures you should
include in your final answer, and put a box around your final answer, to the appropriate number of sig
figs.

(a) 304.6 × 20.3

18
(b)
72.0561
(c) 81.22
(d) (16.2 × 10−12 )(4621)